# Matt Silver — mattsilver.ai (full content)

> Co-founder & CEO of Cargado, an AI-native marketplace connecting freight brokers with trucking companies that move freight between the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Seventeen years brokering freight, with a heavy focus on Mexico cross-border.

This file is the extended companion to /llms.txt. It contains the full plain-text content of every essay published on mattsilver.ai/blog, ordered from most recent to oldest. Intended for LLM ingestion.

## Identity

- Site: https://mattsilver.ai
- Company: https://cargado.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattpsilver
- X / Twitter: https://x.com/mattsilver
- GitHub: https://github.com/mattsilver-ai

## Posts

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## I've been quiet. Here's what we've been building.

**Published:** 2026-09-01  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/quietly-building

*A week in Chicago that changed how we build, TMS integrations, and automated coverage that's actually live.*


I've been quiet.

 This newsletter has been sitting untouched for longer than I'm proud of. It's not that I ran out of things to say. The last few months have been one of those stretches where the right move is to put your head down and build. And candidly, I've been spending more time writing for our company accounts than for my own.

 So here's the overdue version. What we've been working on, what changed recently, and why I'm more optimistic than I've been in a while.

Most of the team, Chicago, last week.

A week in Chicago that changed how I think about building

 Last week we wrapped a company offsite in Chicago. Most of the team in one room for a few days.

 If you've run a distributed team through a hard stretch, you know the feeling. Everyone is working. Everyone is busy. And it's still too easy to drift slightly out of sync. Priorities blur. Small misunderstandings compound. You lose hours re-explaining things you thought were already settled.

 The fastest fix I know is to get the right people in the same room, get crisp on what matters, and then build. That's what we did.

 The contrast with our last hackathon, about a year and a half ago, was stark. Back then we had roughly one engineer per team and everyone else huddled around waiting for code to land.

 This time, non-engineering teammates were in Claude, Claude Design, and Figma building front ends and workflows off real operator experience. These are people who have actually moved freight. Engineers picked those up and implemented them with the right structure and taste.

 A few ideas got far enough that they're turning into roadmap items. Others stayed prototypes, but they answered "is this even worth building?" in a day instead of a month.

 Here's why that matters beyond one good week. Building product used to mean engineers translated everyone else's intent into something real. Operators could give feedback, write a spec, or draw boxes. They couldn't build. So engineers became the translation layer, operators became inputs, and the speed of the whole company was capped by how fast translation could happen.

 Last week, operators turned their own ideas into front-end designs an engineer could run with, instead of trying to word-vomit a concept in a 30-minute Zoom call. That's a different company.

The thing we've believed since day one

 Our vision hasn't changed. Logistics should be an integrated, automated experience, not a patchwork of portals, spreadsheets, phone calls, WhatsApp messages, and "did that carrier pick up the load?" anxiety.

 At the core, one thing has to happen reliably: freight moves on the right trucks, with the right carriers, at the right rates.

 That sounds obvious. In practice it's still weirdly rare. A lot of the software in freight today is a nicer place to store the same manual work. It doesn't remove steps. It doesn't change who has to chase who. It doesn't make outcomes more reliable.

Why Mexico, and why we don't stop there

 People still ask me why Mexico. The honest answer is that it's where the pain is concentrated, where the systems are most broken, and where we've earned the right to have an opinion.

 Mexico freight, cross-border and domestic, forces you to deal with everything that makes freight hard. More complexity. More failure modes. More compliance and communication overhead. Higher stakes when something goes wrong.

 And it isn't one problem. Different border crossings. Different carrier behaviors. Different lead times. Different compliance needs. Lanes where you find capacity easily, and lanes where you post and get silence.

 That's exactly why I'm bullish on solving it. If you can build something that makes Mexico feel simple, you end up making the rest of North America feel better too. Mexico is where we started because it's the best place to prove we're real. It was never the ceiling.

What we've been heads-down on

 The last few months have mostly been us saying no to a lot of tempting things and going all-in on four bets.

1. TMS integrations

 We've been aggressively integrating with the core off-the-shelf TMSs that most of our customers already run. We'll be announcing those soon.

 Without integrations, every marketplace becomes yet another tool. And in freight, yet another tool dies. The best brokers already have a system. They already have workflows. They already have a carrier rep team that knows where the bodies are buried. Ask them to re-enter the same load somewhere new and you're fighting gravity.

 Integrations change the shape of the product. Freight flows from the system of record into Cargado without copy/paste. The team sees outcomes without extra steps. You can automate the parts that should be automated.

 The boring part is the part that matters. It isn't enough to integrate once. It has to be stable, handle the edge cases, and be owned by someone.

 To give a feel for what edge cases look like in freight software:

 The same lane gets written five different ways depending on who typed it.

 One customer calls it Reefer, another calls it temp controlled, and a third buries the requirement in a notes field nobody parses.

 The real workflow is rarely post and wait. It's post, get a bid, find out the pickup time moved, reprice, re-confirm, then book.

 If the integration can't survive the messy version of reality, people stop trusting it. And once trust is gone, the team goes back to the manual workaround.

2. Automated coverage

 This is the one I'm most excited about, because it's real.

 We recently hit the point where we're actually automating coverage for one of our customers, and we'll expand that to more shortly.

 Let me make it concrete. A broker's version of coverage was never "posting a load." Coverage is the whole chain: a load exists, it gets priced, it gets in front of the right carriers, someone commits, you book it, you get the information you need to execute, you confirm and move on. What we're building is a path where that sequence is increasingly software-driven instead of human-driven.

 If you've ever lived in the world of covering freight, you know how big a deal it is to make that sequence reliable.

 One thing I've learned the hard way in logistics: the part that kills you isn't finding a carrier. It's everything around it. The back-and-forth. The missed details. Who has the right phone number. The spreadsheet that's technically shared but nobody trusts.

 So a lot of our focus is on the workflow after the match. Truck, trailer and driver info. A clean handoff to operations. Clarity on whether the carrier is actually confirmed. A paper trail that doesn't live in five different inboxes. That's the stuff brokers end up building spreadsheets for, and it's the difference between "we matched" and "the load actually moved."

3. Market rates

 The other thing I should have been writing about more is our market rates data.

 This might be the most misunderstood part of what we do, because people assume market rates is a nice-to-have chart. What it actually does is force clarity. If you don't know what market is doing, every pricing decision turns into a debate. The loudest person wins. Or the most risk-averse person wins. Or you default to whatever you did last time.

 The job

 The question it answers

 What happens without it

Benchmarking

 Are we paying market on this lane, or are we consistently high?

 You're leaking margin and calling it service. Or you're buying speed and can't tell the difference.

Spot pricing

 What number is defensible for the customer, and what number will actually cover?

 A load moving today turns into an hour of phone calls and a guess.

RFPs and bid files

 Where should we play, and where should we not bid aggressively?

 You win the lane by being the lowest number in the room, then spend six months explaining why the account is hard.

 Benchmarking is the one that changes internal behavior the most. If you're managing a team, you want to know whether a rep is consistently pricing above market because the freight is genuinely hard, or because the pricing muscle memory drifted. Those are very different coaching conversations.

 What's been most interesting to me is that the use case is basically the same whether you're a smaller operator trying to price confidently, or one of the biggest brokers in the country trying to enforce pricing discipline across a huge book. The difference is scale. The job is identical.

4. Scaling the supply network

 Coverage only works if there's real supply. We've been building a more scalable way to add substantially more carrier supply to the network.

 I'm not going to over-index on details here, because this is a place where the work matters more than the talking. The goal is simple: more quality carriers, responding faster, on the right freight.

 You can't market your way out of a supply problem. You have to build your way out of it. And building here doesn't just mean onboarding more carriers. It means making sure the right carriers actually see the right freight, at the right time, in a way that fits how carriers work. If the experience is noisy, good carriers tune you out. If it's clean, they come back.

How we're running the company now

 The other big shift is internal. AI is dramatically different than it was even a year ago, and we've leaned into that hard.

 Notion sits at the core of the business as our company brain, where most of our context lives, and we've connected it to basically everything. We use Claude Code and ChatGPT throughout the business, we run Notion Agents across the org, and I've added Grok bots to my daily routine.

 I've also used these tools personally to take on a lot of operational work I previously had other people doing. Now it's a prompt. Or an automation. Or a loop that's already running.

 The offsite was a forcing function for all of it. Watching non-engineering teammates prototype real workflows, watching engineers implement quickly, watching teams make decisions in the room. It made obvious that this is becoming a core way we work rather than a side tool.

 The best part of the week wasn't any single feature. It was watching a much faster loop take hold, and that loop is what I've been chasing for a long time.

Where we're at

 I want this industry to have a better experience. That's the whole thing.

 We're a strong team. We have control over our destiny. And we're building on our own timeline as we keep iterating.

 If you've been following along and wondering where I went, that's where. More soon.

 One question I'd genuinely love input on: what's the most painful part of coverage for you today? The sourcing, the trust, the rate volatility, the ops overhead, or something else? Hit reply, I read them all.


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## If your “Mexico person” quit tomorrow, could you still price a load?

**Published:** 2026-06-29  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/using-cargado-market-rates

*A 15-minute playbook for benchmarking, spot quotes, and RFPs — and why “gut feel + spreadsheets” breaks down in Mexico.*


I learned pricing the hard way in a previous life

 When I owned Mexico pricing at a big brokerage, “rate” wasn’t a number you looked up. It was a job.

 We built a massive spreadsheet to make it manageable: assumptions for the Mexico leg, crossing fee, trailer type, then a U.S. backhaul rate plus a surcharge based on door-to-door limitations. It helped, but maintaining that file was constant work — and it still took longer than it should to price a real RFP.

 And any time we needed real carrier rates to feel confident, the clock got ugly. You’d reach out, wait, follow up, and sometimes it was hours (sometimes a day or two) before you heard back from enough carriers to trust the number.

 That experience is why I’m convinced the best logistics providers don’t “know rates.” They run a pricing system.

What changed in 2026: pricing is a competitive sport again

 A decade ago, you could win a lot of business by being “good enough” at pricing Mexico freight.

 In 2026, “good enough” is a tax.

 Customers expect an answer fast.

 Competitors are quoting faster than they should be able to.

 And the brokerage that can quote quickly and cover consistently is the one that wins the relationship.

 Nobody nails the exact buy rate every time, and that was never the bar.

 The bar is pricing fast and with discipline — in a way that doesn’t live or die with the one or two people who “know Mexico.”

The real purpose of market-rate data

 Most teams talk about pricing like they’re searching for “the right number.”

 That’s not how great teams operate.

 Great teams use market-rate data as decision infrastructure:

 a benchmark that keeps you from being obviously wrong

 a fast first answer that buys you time and position

 a guardrail system for bid files / RFPs so you don’t win the wrong freight

 a way to standardize pricing so ten reps don’t quote ten different worlds

 If you treat rate data as a magic oracle, you’ll get burned.

 If you treat it as the foundation of a repeatable workflow, it becomes leverage.

Where our market rates come from (and why I care about the input)

 Our baseline market rates are derived from carrier bids placed in the Cargado marketplace across a mix of spot and contracted/repeat freight.

 That detail matters because Mexico freight is not one market.

 “Same lane” on paper can price wildly differently depending on:

 crossing and operating model

 lead time and appointment constraints

 equipment (and what actually qualifies as “same equipment” in practice)

 accessorial exposure

 service expectations (door-to-door vs. handoffs)

 carrier pool realities (who can run it, legally and operationally)

 So the right question isn’t “what’s the rate?”

 It’s “what’s normal for this move, what’s the spread, and how confident should I be?”

 That’s why we show low / mid / high bands instead of one number. It’s closer to how pricing decisions actually get made.

How the best logistics providers price Mexico freight in 2026

 The best teams I talk to have the same three motions. Different org charts, different tech stacks, same motions.

1) Benchmarking: “Are we in the ballpark?”

 Benchmarking is the cheapest insurance in freight.

 It prevents the two classic failures:

 Quote too high → lose the load and never learn why.

 Quote too low → win the load and spend two days trying to make it real.

 A benchmark doesn’t replace judgment — it forces judgment to be honest.

 Benchmarking like a pro comes down to three habits:

 You sanity-check the lane before you ever send a number.

 You treat the spread (low/mid/high) as a signal: tight spread = easier lane; wide spread = lane that needs questions.

 You use benchmarks to align the team. If one rep is consistently over market, you can coach it. If one is consistently under, you can fix it before it becomes a margin leak.

One benchmark habit worth stealing:

 After you price a lane, ask: “If we won at this number, would we feel smart tomorrow morning?”

 If the answer is “I don’t know,” you don’t have a price — you have a guess.

2) Spot pricing: “Quote fast without being reckless”

 Spot is where speed matters and mistakes compound.

 Most teams lose because:

 They respond too slowly.

 Or:

 They respond quickly with a number they can’t defend, then scramble.

 The cleanest pattern I’ve seen is a two-step motion:

Anchor the first response using market rates (fast, credible, defensible range).

Tighten the quote with live carrier feedback before you commit.

 Market-rate data is how you get the first step done without playing roulette.

 Market rates earn their keep somewhere else, too: spotting the exceptions early.

 Mexico spot doesn’t break teams because they don’t know the average. It breaks teams because they treat a non-standard move like it’s standard.

 Common “this is not a standard move” signals:

 the shipper wants a quote in minutes but expects service-level guarantees

 the lane touches a border / region where carrier availability is structurally different

 the pickup window is tight or the delivery requirements are strict

 the freight is accessorial-heavy (and the cost isn’t in the lane, it’s in the risk)

 When you see those signals, price the risk on purpose instead of reaching for an average.

3) Bid files & RFPs: “Scale the work without pricing yourself into a 12‑month problem”

 RFPs are where pricing discipline either shows up or gets exposed.

 The spreadsheet makes RFPs feel clean:

 lane, volume, equipment, price, done.

 Reality is messier:

 lanes that look easy aren’t easy

 volatility shows up mid-contract

 “door-to-door” assumptions get violated

 the “Mexico portion” becomes a black box nobody wants to own

 you win the lane and then repeat the mistake every week for a year

 The best use of market-rate data in an RFP isn’t finding the exact penny.

 It’s building guardrails:

 where you will play vs. where you shouldn’t

 floors and buffers

 seasonality adjustments

 a post-award monitoring plan so you can defend resets with facts

 The thing that separates teams in 2026 is speed at scale.

 If you’re staring at 100 lanes, “just go line by line” isn’t a strategy. It’s a bottleneck.

 Teams that win RFPs consistently do two things:

 They use market rates to triage lanes fast (good lanes vs. risky lanes).

 They price large lane sets in a repeatable way (Excel / API) so the team spends time thinking instead of copying and pasting.

What this looks like inside an organization (practical playbook)

 If I were running pricing for a cross-border team today, I’d install a simple operating system:

Step 1: Make “benchmarking” a required first step

 No quote goes out without a benchmark range.

 Not to slow the team down — to keep the team from being obviously wrong.

Step 2: Define what “fast” means for spot

 Set an internal SLA:

 initial response in X minutes

 tightened response in Y minutes once carrier feedback is back

 The goal is to be the fastest credible quote, not the fastest random number.

Step 3: Treat bid files as a workflow, not a hero project

 Bid files and RFPs cannot depend on “the one person who knows Mexico.”

 That person will burn out, and the business will stall.

 Build a repeatable motion:

 benchmark lane sets

 flag exceptions

 add buffers intentionally

 monitor post-award variance weekly

Step 4: Measure your pricing performance

 This is where teams level up.

 Track:

 how often you quote inside your own benchmark bands

 where you consistently win but can’t cover (too low or wrong assumptions)

 where you consistently lose quickly (too high or too slow)

 where your “Mexico leg” assumptions are drifting from reality

 You don’t need perfect measurement. You need enough signal to stop flying blind.

Why this matters (and why I’m so direct about it)

 In Mexico freight, the market punishes hesitation and rewards discipline.

 If you can quote fast and cover consistently, you win trust.

 If you can do it across spot, benchmarking, and RFPs — you win the account.

 That’s what good market-rate data should unlock: a pricing system your whole team can run — even on the days your Mexico expert is out.

 If you want those low/mid/high bands on your own lanes, that’s exactly what we built: Cargado Market Rates — instant Mexico and Canada pricing from real carrier bids across 12,000+ lanes.

 See Cargado Market Rates →

 If you’re pricing Mexico freight today, what’s the biggest pain: getting a fast first number, pricing bid files, or keeping awarded lanes profitable?


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## The SCOTUS broker ruling: more accountability, not doomsday

**Published:** 2026-05-19  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/the-scotus-broker-ruling-more-accountability-not-doomsday

*A broker-first take on what the Supreme Court actually said, why the internet is overreacting, and what to do next (without panicking).*


The Supreme Court’s decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC isn’t going to change what a truck is or how a load moves down the road. But it does put more attention and structure on carrier selection, monitoring, and documentation.

 Not because it suddenly makes brokers “liable for everything.” It doesn’t.

 But because it makes one thing unavoidable: carrier selection now has to be defensible.

 If your operation has been built on informal workflows (phone calls, WhatsApp threads, tribal knowledge, and a thin paper trail), this decision raises the importance of tightening those workflows.

 And I’ll say the quiet part plainly: the shadiest carriers are going to have a harder time getting freight. Good. If a carrier’s “edge” is hiding safety issues, swapping identities, or living in the gray, this ruling raises the cost of doing business. The industry should want that.

I’ve gotten this question enough times…

 The Supreme Court just decided Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, LLC (9–0), and you can already feel the freight internet doing what it always does: turning a nuanced decision into a one-sentence narrative.

 “This crushes small brokers.” “Insurance goes 10x.” “Extinction event.”

 I get why those takes spread. They’re simple, they’re dramatic, and they match the background anxiety a lot of people already feel about being in the middle of a transaction.

 But it’s not the right mental model — and I don’t think this is a reason to panic.

 This decision doesn’t make brokers “liable for everything.” It does something more practical: it makes carrier selection something you have to be able to explain like an adult. Not in a Slack thread. Not with a screenshot. Not with “trust me.” In a way that holds up when someone is asking questions months later.

 And because of that, it changes behavior and process. Not overnight, and not universally — but enough that it’s worth taking seriously.

What the Court actually held (actually plain English)

 Here’s the simplest way to understand it:

 Before this decision, a lot of brokers tried to get these lawsuits thrown out fast by saying: “Federal law (FAAAA) blocks this kind of claim against a broker.”

 The Supreme Court said: not when safety is the issue.

 If a broker picks an unsafe carrier, and someone gets hurt, the injured person can sue the broker under state negligence law. The case doesn’t automatically get dismissed just because the broker is a broker.

 Put differently:

You’re still not “liable for everything.”

 But you may have to answer a basic question in court: “Why did you pick that carrier?”

 That’s the shift. The fight moves from “you can’t sue me” to “did I act reasonably when I chose them?”

What this ruling does not mean

 Let’s clear out the noise without pretending the risk isn’t real.

 First: this is not strict liability. A broker is not automatically at fault because a carrier they used got into a crash. Plaintiffs still have to prove a real negligence case — duty, breach, and (crucially) causation. The fight moves from “you can’t sue me at all” to “did I act reasonably given what was knowable at the time?”

 Second: this isn’t some new FMCSA rulebook that drops tomorrow. This is a litigation and accountability shift. It changes who gets named in lawsuits, what gets requested in discovery, and what an insurer or shipper will ask about your process.

 Third: this doesn’t mean insurance instantly goes 10x. Pricing may move over time — especially if the market learns that some broker operations have basically no defensible selection process — but insurance doesn’t re-rate overnight because the internet decided a number.

What Kavanaugh signaled (and why it matters)

 Justice Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence (joined by Alito). He agrees with the outcome, but he calls the case “closer” than the majority opinion suggests.

 That matters because it’s basically a roadmap for how this plays out in real life. You should expect more lawsuits that name brokers, because preemption won’t automatically end the case early. But you shouldn’t interpret this as unlimited broker exposure either. The core fight becomes the messy, factual one: what did you do, what did you know, and was it reasonable?

 That’s the right place for this to land. Because there’s a massive difference between selecting a carrier with obvious red flags that you ignored, and selecting a carrier that looked fine based on the information you had at the time.

What changes in the real world

 Not everything. The world doesn’t flip overnight. But the center of gravity shifts.

 The first change is that carrier selection documentation stops being a nice-to-have and starts being a first-class artifact. “We checked SAFER” won’t be the end of the conversation. The questions become: what did you check, when did you check it, what did you see, and why was your decision reasonable?

 The second change is segmentation. In tight markets, everyone already prefers known-good capacity. This decision will reinforce that preference and make standards and exceptions more explicit.

 And on the carrier side, I think it reinforces something overdue: there’s less room for theater. No more “strong solo Sergei” stories. No more having a buddy hop in a truck at a shipper just to prove there’s a team. When selection and safety get more scrutiny, carriers with real operations, real compliance, and real track record win more of the freight.

 The third change is that tooling and workflow matter more than headcount. This is where I think the “small broker dies” story is wrong. Discipline is not a function of size — it’s a function of systems. If you can operationalize onboarding, checks, exceptions, and documentation in a repeatable way, you can run a tight operation at 10 seats or 1,000.

So does this crush small brokers?

 Here’s the non-alarmist take:

This doesn’t crush small brokers. It crushes sloppy brokers.

 People keep equating “small” with “non-compliant.” That’s lazy.

 I’ve met plenty of small brokerages that are more disciplined than big ones.

 What will get more expensive:

 brokers who can’t prove what they did

 brokers who routinely use carriers with visible red flags

 brokers whose process is “cover at any cost”

 That’s not a size problem. That’s a systems problem.

 One more second-order effect I’m watching: this could accelerate broker consolidation. When risk goes up, scale has advantages — not because big is “smarter,” but because big can spread fixed costs (compliance, legal, insurance, safety tooling) across more volume. If you’re a big broker with a mature carrier approval program, buying a smaller shop with good customers but weak process starts to look attractive.

 I don’t think this automatically turns into a wave of roll-ups. More likely, it’s a slow push: some smaller brokers will decide to invest in systems now, and some will decide to partner with someone who already has them.

What about small carriers?

 Same framing.

 Carriers aren’t winners or losers by size. The market will reward:

 clean compliance

 good safety posture

 predictable execution

 transparency

 That’s good news for great small fleets.

 The fleets that will feel pressure are the ones whose compliance story is messy — because “messy” is now more expensive to do business with.

Why this hits harder right now: the chaotic storm

 This decision lands in a market that’s already stressed.

 A few things are simultaneously true:

Capacity is tight and carriers are picky. In a carrier-driven market, brokers are already selling freight, not just posting it.

Mexico freight is structurally more complex — authority, border behavior, operational variance, and more scrutiny.

B1 / cabotage enforcement chatter is translating into real behavioral change. Whether every headline is accurate doesn’t matter as much as the fact that fleets are acting more cautiously. Phantom capacity disappears fast when enforcement tightens.

 So the real story is not “SCOTUS alone changed everything.

 The story is:

SCOTUS accelerates a shift that was already underway — toward defensible selection, stronger compliance posture, and more preference for known-good capacity — at the exact moment the market is already tight and cross-border is already noisy.

 That’s why it feels like a shock wave.

Quick update: what I’m seeing a few days after the ruling

 A few days later, the public conversation is starting to settle down.

 The early “doomsday” takes are still floating around, but the most consistent theme I’m seeing from attorneys, industry publications, and trucking media is much more practical: tighten what you can control.

 One signal worth noting: this is no longer just freight-Twitter discourse. It’s now being covered in more traditional trucking outlets as a “higher stakes for broker vetting” story. That means leadership teams across brokers and carriers will keep hearing about it, even if they never read a Supreme Court opinion.

The bigger second-order effect: why Chat + integrations are the future

 When you zoom out, this ruling is about one thing: accountability.

 Not accountability in the moral sense. Accountability in the operational sense:

 Who selected the carrier?

 Why?

 What did they know?

 What did they do?

 What happened next?

 The old freight workflow is basically built to erase that accountability:

 phone calls

 WhatsApp

 forwarding PDFs

 “ask Joe, he knows that carrier”

 carrier packets in someone’s inbox

 a TMS record that says “covered” but doesn’t say how

 That model doesn’t scale. And under a higher-liability regime, it’s not just inefficient — it’s fragile.

 This is also why this ruling can be a positive forcing function for the industry. Over the last few days, this has come up on nearly every broker call: leadership teams want a clear answer to “how do we control this risk?” The best answer isn’t panic. It’s moving to an operating model where quality is visible, standards are consistent, and the record is built automatically as you work.

 That’s exactly where a curated network and an integrated workflow shine. If you’re using a system that gives you vetted capacity, structured procurement, and auditable communication in one place, you’re not just reducing legal exposure. You’re building a better brokerage.

 The future is the integrated workflow where:

 the freight is posted once (or synced automatically)

 the network responds with bids

 the carrier selection process is visible

 the broker-carrier conversation happens in the system

 the “why” is defensible

 and the output pushes back into the TMS

 That’s not “nice to have.” It’s how you run a brokerage that’s built to last.

Why living in WhatsApp is risky (and why leadership has no oversight)

 WhatsApp is great for speed. It’s terrible for running a real operation:

 no structured context

 no auditable record

 no direct connection to bids / selection

 no reliable handoff across a team

 If your carrier conversations live in WhatsApp, you don’t actually have a carrier relationship asset. You have a set of private DMs.

 And here’s the leadership problem: you can’t manage what you can’t see. When your execution lives in WhatsApp:

 leadership can’t audit carrier selectio

 compliance can’t enforce standards consistently

 operations can’t coach the team off a bad habit

 legal can’t reconstruct what happened without begging for screenshots

 analytics can’t learn from outcomes because the data never enters the system

 In a higher-liability world, “screenshots in a folder” is not a defensible operating model.

This is where network effects start compounding

 The integrated model compounds because every interaction creates reusable data:

 which carriers actually cover which lanes

 how rates move over time

 who responds fast

 which communications lead to booked freight

 where the process breaks

 That data improves matching, improves pricing, improves coaching, improves carrier onboarding, improves the entire marketplace.

 And it’s why the “one-off load board posting” model will look increasingly outdated.

A concrete example: 850-lane RFP out of El Paso (and why it matters)

 Here’s the example I keep coming back to because it’s so clean:

 850-lane RFP

 out of El Paso (yes, domestic freight — it hits a border city)

 and it resulted in 100% bid rate and multiple bids on most lanes

 And the important part is the workflow:

it took one posting and an Excel file.

 This is the shift:

 not 850 separate phone trees

 not 850 separate “rate check” scrambles

 not 850 separate carrier packet requests

 Just: post once, attach the sheet, let the network respond, and keep the full conversation + evidence trail tied to the freight.

 That is exactly what the industry will move toward as selection becomes more scrutinized.

My “lean into it” take (the opportunity)

 If you’re building in freight — as a broker, a shipper, or a platform — you have two options:

Option A: complain about the new risk

 This is where most takes live. Fear, outrage, doom.

Option B: treat it like a forcing function

 This is where the opportunity is.

 Because if the market now demands:

 a clearer carrier selection process

 better visibility into safety signals

 better documentation

 fewer exceptions

 cleaner execution…

 Then the companies that build those muscles will win share.

 Not because they’re bigger.

 Because they’re better run.

Practical: what I’d do next week

If you’re a broker

 Write down your minimum carrier standard (and stop hand-waving it).

 Make exceptions explicit — and documented.

 Treat vetting as a workflow, not a person.

 Start building a preferred network that can cover your key lanes without panic.

 Move as much communication as possible into systems that create a durable record.

If you’re a shipper

 Expect brokers to ask for more process and data.

 Align internally on what “safe enough” means (because that standard will surface in disputes).

 Tighten routing guide governance — not for optics, for resilience.

If you’re a platform

 Make safety + selection documentation a first-class feature.

 Reduce compliance overhead so good behavior is the default.

 Make Chat and collaboration part of the workflow, not a bolt-on.

 Deepen integrations so the system of record stays consistent end-to-end.

Bottom line

 This ruling increases litigation and scrutiny. It also rewards discipline.

 It’s not the end of small brokers or small carriers.

 It’s the end of pretending carrier selection doesn’t matter. The brokers and carriers that build a clean, defensible operating system (and the platforms that make that easy) will take shar


---

## There's No Phantom Capacity. Carriers Just Parked Their Trucks.

**Published:** 2026-04-30  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/phantom-capacity

*The US-Mexico capacity squeeze isn't phantom. It's parked equipment, revoked B1 visas, and shippers calling carriers back directly as tariffs lift and the market picks up speed.*


Over the past 24 hours, I’ve heard the term “phantom capacity” enough times that it’s worth addressing directly.

 This isn’t meant to call anyone out. I just kept getting the same question — what is phantom capacity, what’s actually happening to capacity in Mexico cross-border right now — and decided it was easier to write down what I’m seeing than to answer it one DM at a time.

 The framing has a kernel of truth. Mexico cross-border is messy. Cargo theft is real. C-TPAT and qualified-driver requirements are real. And yes — you can have “capacity” on paper that doesn’t actually show up when you need it.

 But “phantom” is the wrong word, and it’s the wrong word in a way that lets the industry off the hook.

 Phantom implies sketchy. In trucking, when we say phantom carrier, we usually mean fraud — double-brokered loads, stolen MC numbers, freight that gets picked up and never delivered. That is a real problem in cross-border. But it is not what's actually happening to capacity right now.

 What's happening is something more specific and more knowable than ghosts. Three things are unfolding at once. None of them are mysterious.

Cabotage enforcement is shrinking the qualified driver pool

 I wrote about this back in Issue #62 — B1 visa drivers are a core part of the North American supply chain, not the enemy. They are the engine of US-Mexico trade, literally and figuratively. The cross-border supply chain that moves close to $800 billion in goods between the two countries every year runs on B1 capacity at the border. Without B1 drivers, you don't have cross-border trucking — you have a parking lot in Laredo and another one in Nuevo Laredo with no way to bridge them.

 Look at the carrier base we've onboarded in Laredo and the lean is unmistakable. More than two-thirds of those carriers run majority-B1 fleets. More than 40% run entirely B1 — zero CDL drivers on staff. Only about 8% run an exclusively CDL fleet. The carriers showing up to move Mexico freight are, overwhelmingly, B1-driven operations. That is not a quirk of our network. That is what the cross-border carrier base actually looks like.

 Here is the uncomfortable part. A small number of carriers have been running their B1 drivers on purely domestic US loads by picking off freight in the US market. That is cabotage. It is illegal. It always has been. For years the enforcement was loose enough that some operators built parts of their business model around it — and undercut every carrier that played by the rules. Hell, even carrier reps have been known to say “my carrier commits cabotage so I can get them way under market going into San Antonio!”.

 That era is ending. Drivers caught running domestic loads have been losing their B1s. The crackdown is not theoretical anymore. The driver still exists. He just cannot legally pull the freight he was illegally pulling a year ago. And good. The few who broke the rules were ruining it for everyone else, and one way or another, the government knows those drivers committed cabotage. They deserve to lose their ability to participate in one of the most lucrative trade lanes in North America. The carriers that knowingly dispatched them deserve the same.

 And now there’s a second layer that’s even messier: multiple carriers are reporting that CBP is confiscating / revoking B1 visas at the border without giving a specific justification. In one Laredo ops group chat, the number circulating was 70+ visas revoked over a weekend, with CBP officers saying their system simply shows Department of State notes instructing revocation — no detail, no explanation, just “revoked.”

 If that holds, it will show up exactly the way everyone describes “phantom capacity” showing up: bids softening, longer response times, and brokers feeling like trucks just disappeared. Except again — it isn’t phantom. It’s policy, enforcement, and paperwork.

 This is not a security story. It is a US enforcement story. And it acts on the qualified driver pool exactly the way "phantom capacity" is supposed to — except it has a name, an agency, and a paper trail.

Carriers are upside down on truck notes and parking equipment

 Every cross-border carrier I talked to in Laredo recently is running a smaller fleet than they own. The math is the same one yard to the next: a 20-truck operation now runs 12. The notes were written when used Class 8 sleepers were $70K–$80K in 2022; today the same trucks sell at auction for $20K–$25K. Rates have not moved enough to service the original payment schedule, and refinancing is not on the table when the underlying asset is worth half what it was. The trucks that are paid off keep running. The financed ones get parked, plated, and left to wait.

 Parking a truck does not stop the bleeding. Insurance, transponders, ELD subscriptions, plate and FMCSA registration fees — they keep billing whether the truck rolls or not. Fleets are eating those fixed costs to avoid the bigger loss of running a truck below its operating cost.

 This is not phantom capacity. This is balance-sheet capacity. The trucks are tagged, titled, and sitting in a row. They will come back when rates move or the notes get refinanced. Until then, they are off the board.

Shippers are coming back to their carriers directly

 The same carriers are showing up. They're just bidding less — and on more concentrated freight.

 Here is what's driving it. With tariffs being canceled and the cross-border market picking up speed again, shippers are calling their carriers back directly. The phone calls that went to brokers during the uncertain stretch — when shippers wanted optionality and didn't want to commit — are going back to the carriers shippers already know and trust. The freight is coming back. It's just coming back direct.

 If you talk to a Mexican carrier with a strong customer book right now, you'll hear it. They aren't bidding on the board the way they were six months ago. They're cherry-picking. They open a load, they look at the rate, they look at the lane, and most of the time they pass — because their trucks are already filling up from inbound calls. The bid that would have come in last fall doesn't come in now, not because the carrier is gone, but because the carrier is full.

 The same pattern shows up across our network. The carriers we know are still active. They're still logging in, still opening loads, still here. But they're being selective in a way they weren't a few quarters ago, concentrating their attention on the lanes and customers that work for them.

 The cleanest read: carriers are not disengaged. They are full. They are taking direct shipper freight first and only bidding on broker freight when they have leftover capacity. The "shortage" brokers feel is partly just shippers and carriers reconnecting on volume that always belonged in those direct relationships.

So what does this actually mean for shippers and brokers?

 If you're a shipper, the lesson is not to hire a security consultant. The lesson is to know the financial state of your carrier base. Which of your contracted carriers are running at break-even? Which ones parked trucks last quarter? When you're competing for capacity, you're competing against direct shipper relationships — not phantoms.

 If you're a broker, the question is sharper: how do I become the broker a carrier wants to bid first when the shipper hasn't already called them directly? That is a relationship question, a payment-terms question, and a "do you actually understand my freight" question. It is not solved with another mini-bid or a tighter routing guide.

The deeper point

 "Phantom capacity" is a useful term when you don't want to name causes. It implies the squeeze just sort of happened — that capacity evaporated because of forces nobody can see. But the forces are visible. Visa enforcement has names and dates. Truck notes have payment schedules. Carrier behavior in a marketplace has a measurable signature.

 The capacity is not a ghost. It is parked, repossessed, or already booked direct by a shipper who picked up the phone. The sooner the industry says that out loud, the sooner anyone can do something about it.

 We are going to keep watching it inside Cargado. Carrier behavior in a live marketplace is one of the cleanest signals we have on whether the cross-border market is actually getting tighter or just getting more selective. If you want to see what real cross-border capacity looks like in real time, that is where it is.


---

## Building the Mexico Team: When to Hire, Who to Hire, and How to Scale

**Published:** 2026-04-22  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/building-the-mexico-team

*Part 4 of the Mexico Freight Playbook — how to staff your Mexico operation at each stage of growth, from your first load to a full department*


This is the fourth post in the Mexico Freight Playbook series. Read Part 1 (why Mexico matters), Part 2 (how to sell it), and Part 3 (operations and execution).

 The biggest mistake I see brokers make with Mexico freight?

 Overbuilding too early.

 They think they need to set up an office in Laredo or hire a team in Monterrey before they move their first load. They hire three people, spend six months "getting ready," and burn through budget before they've made a single dollar.

 Don't do that.

 Mexico freight doesn't require a big team to start. It requires the right person at the right time. Here's how to think about staffing as you grow.

Stage 1: Getting Started (0-5 Customers)

You don't need anyone dedicated to Mexico yet.

 Your existing team can handle this. Pick one person — someone curious, someone who wants to learn — and let them own the early loads. They're not full-time on Mexico. They're just the person who figures it out when Mexico freight comes up.

 Even better if you already have someone on your team who speaks Spanish or has ties to Mexico. Maybe they have family there. Maybe they've expressed interest in cross-border before. If you've got that person — even if they're remote, even if they're currently focused on something else — lean into them. That combination of language skills and genuine interest is rare and valuable. Don't overlook it because they're not sitting in your office or because Mexico isn't their official job yet.

 That person builds expertise with each shipment. They learn the carriers. They understand the lanes. They learn what details the customs broker needs to get a load across the border and start to build familiarity there. But they're still doing their regular job.

 This stage is about learning, not scaling. You're validating that Mexico freight works for your business. You're building relationships with a few carriers. You're getting comfortable with the documents and the process.

What this looks like in practice:

 One person owns Mexico "on the side"

 They handle 1-2 loads per week

 They're quoting 5-10 opportunities per week

 Revenue: $250K-500K annually

 Don't hire anyone yet. Don't rent an office. Just learn.

Stage 2: Building Momentum (5+ Customers with Weekly Volume)

Now it's time to lean in — but still not full-time.

 Once you have five or more customers giving you volume on a weekly basis, someone needs to devote real time to Mexico. Not necessarily full-time, but meaningful time.

 This is the person who starts asking every account manager: "Hey, does your customer have any Mexico freight?"

 They're proactively selling Mexico to your existing book. They're the internal expert that sales reps bring onto calls when Mexico comes up. They're building the pipeline.

 Here's how the team dynamic works: your account managers keep owning the customer relationship. They win the freight. They get the tenders. They build the loads. But when something needs to happen at the border or in Mexico — talking to the customs broker, coordinating with facilities, troubleshooting an issue — your Mexico person handles it. Everyone on the floor starts to trust them for that piece. The AMs stay focused on the customer. Your Mexico person stays focused on making Mexico work.

 The key shift at this stage: Mexico goes from reactive ("we handle it when it comes up") to proactive ("we're actively looking for it").

What this looks like in practice:

 One person spending 50%+ of their time on Mexico

 They're selling, quoting, and coordinating

 35-105 loads per week

 Quoting 100-300 opportunities per week

 Revenue: $1M-2M annually

 You might be tempted to hire someone dedicated at this point. Resist the urge until you hit Stage 3.

Stage 3: Operations Investment (Daily Volume from Several Customers)

This is the inflection point. Make a real hire.

 When you have daily volume from several customers, you need an operations person who is fluent in Spanish. Their job is to:

 Talk to the customs brokers and facilities in Mexico

 Coordinate with your U.S. ops team and account managers

 Make sure freight moves smoothly

 This person doesn't need to be in Mexico. They can be anywhere. But they need to speak Spanish fluently and understand cross-border operations.

 Your U.S. account managers stay focused on the customer relationship. Your Spanish-speaking ops person handles the Mexico-side coordination. They work together.

 This is when Mexico becomes a real business unit, not a side project.

What this looks like in practice:

 2-5 dedicated ops people (Spanish-speaking) — today, most Mexico ops people can handle about 10 loads per day because of how manual the process is. That's improving, but plan accordingly.

 Sales support from existing team or partial dedicated sales time

 175-525 loads per week

 Quoting 500-1,500 opportunities per week

 Revenue: $4M-6M annually

 Clear SOPs documented

 Team of 5-10 people touching Mexico in some capacity

Stage 4: Full Department (700+ Loads/Week)

Now you're building a real department.

 At 700+ loads per week, Mexico is a meaningful part of your P&L. You're ready for:

Dedicated sales headcount — people whose entire job is selling Mexico

Office presence in Laredo — where the carriers are, where the action is

Multiple ops people — covering different shifts, different regions, different customers

Potentially an office in Monterrey or Mexico City — for carrier development and customer service

 This is when you think about Mexico as its own functional department within the brokerage, not just a service line.

What this looks like in practice:

 700-1,750+ loads per week

 Quoting 2,000+ opportunities per week

 Revenue: $10M+ annually

 Full team with dedicated sales, ops, and potentially carrier development

 Office presence at border and/or in Mexico

 But don't jump to Stage 4 until you've earned it. Most brokers stall out because they overbuild too early, not because they underinvest.

The First Hire: What to Look For

 When you're ready to make your first dedicated Mexico hire (Stage 3), here's what matters:

Must-Haves

Fluent Spanish — Not conversational, fluent. They need to negotiate with carriers, troubleshoot with customs brokers, and resolve issues at facilities. This is non-negotiable.

Operations mindset — Your first hire is ops, not sales. You need someone who can coordinate the chaos, not someone who's going to close deals and then hand off a mess.

Problem-solving ability — Cross-border freight goes sideways. Documents get delayed. Trucks get held. You need someone who stays calm and figures it out.

Logistics experience — They need to understand freight. Period. Eventually they need to understand cross-border freight specifically, but at minimum they should know how loads move, how carriers operate, and how to troubleshoot when things go wrong. You can't teach urgency and instinct.

Nice-to-Haves

Border city connections — If they know carriers or customs brokers in Laredo already, that's a head start.

Bilingual email and documentation skills — Can they write professional emails in Spanish? Can they review Spanish-language documents and catch errors?

Red Flags

"I've done a little bit of Mexico" — Vague experience is often no experience. Press on specifics.

Can't explain the crossing process — If they've actually worked cross-border, they can walk you through how freight moves. If they can't, they haven't.

Only wants to sell — Your first hire needs to do everything. If they only want to be in sales, they're not the right fit for Stage 3.

Uses Google Translate — If they're copying and pasting into Google Translate to communicate with carriers or customs brokers, they're not fluent. You need someone who can think and respond in Spanish naturally, especially when things go sideways.

Where to Hire

For Your First Ops Hire

Laredo, TX — This is the obvious answer. More cross-border freight goes through Laredo than any other port. If you want someone who knows the market, knows the carriers, and can be on the ground, Laredo is the place.

El Paso, TX — Second busiest crossing. Strong talent pool, especially for automotive-related freight.

McAllen / Brownsville, TX — Smaller markets but growing. Good options if you're focused on specific corridors.

Remote (anywhere) — If they're fluent in Spanish and can work U.S. hours, they can be anywhere. The phone calls and emails work the same whether they're in Laredo or Chicago.

For Your Mexico Office (Stage 4)

Monterrey — Industrial hub. If your freight is automotive, manufacturing, or general cargo from northern Mexico, this is the logical location.

Mexico City — Good for corporate relationships and southern Mexico freight. Less about operations, more about customer development.

Guadalajara — Tequila, electronics, food & beverage. If your book is heavy in these verticals, Guadalajara makes sense.

 Don't open a Mexico office until you're doing 500+ loads per week and you're going down there every other week anyway. The office should formalize what you're already doing, not create new activity.

The First Year Playbook

 Here's what a realistic first year looks like:

Quarter 1: Foundation

 Audit your existing book for border city freight

 Identify 10-20 target accounts with likely Mexico freight

 Move your first loads (aim for profitability by load 2-3)

 Build relationships with 2-3 reliable carriers

Target: 5-10 loads/month

Quarter 2: Traction

 Establish consistent lanes with repeat customers

 Expand carrier relationships based on lane needs

 Start training a second person on Mexico basics

Target: 20-30 loads/month

Quarter 3: Process

 Document your SOPs

 Systematize carrier selection by lane

 Build quoting confidence on key corridors

Target: 50+ loads/month

Quarter 4: Scale

 Evaluate dedicated headcount needs

 Consider presence in Laredo (if volume warrants)

 Expand into adjacent services (expedited, open deck, reefer)

Target: 100+ loads/month

 By the end of year one, you should know whether Mexico is a real business line for you or a nice-to-have. If you're at 100+ loads per month, it's real. Time to invest.

The "I Need Someone in Mexico" Trap

 I hear this constantly: "We can't do Mexico until we have someone on the ground there."

 This is wrong.

 You don't need someone in Mexico to start. You don't need someone in Mexico to scale to $2M in revenue. You might not even need someone in Mexico at $5M.

 Here's the progression:

Start remote — Your first Mexico person can be anywhere. Spanish fluency matters more than location.

Add Laredo before Mexico — If you need a physical presence, start at the border. That's where the carriers are, where the customs brokers are, where the crossings happen. Laredo is the center of gravity.

Add Mexico when you're already there constantly — When you find yourself flying to Monterrey every month, when you're meeting with carriers and customers regularly, when the relationships demand physical presence — then you open an office.

 The office in Mexico should formalize relationships you've already built, not create new ones from scratch.

Integrating Mexico into Your Existing Sales Team

 One of the challenges at Stage 2 and 3 is getting your existing sales team to actually bring up Mexico with their customers.

 Here's what works:

Name the Commodities

 Don't send a generic email saying "we do Mexico now." List the specific industries and commodities that signal Mexico freight:

 Automotive parts

 Appliances

 Electronics

 Tequila

 Paper products

 Furniture

 Food ingredients

 When you name those commodities, salespeople self-identify. They go, "Oh, I have a customer that ships automotive parts" or "My customer is a supplier for that company." That's your pipeline.

Join Their Calls

 Get your Mexico person on customer calls as the expert. The sales rep stays on the account, keeps the relationship, gets their commission. Your Mexico person does the heavy lifting on the cross-border piece.

 This reduces risk for the sales rep. They're not worried about looking dumb or promising something they can't deliver. They have backup.

Do 80% of the Work

 Quote it for them. Cover it for them. Handle the carrier communication. Make it easy.

 The sales rep gets paid on freight they never could have closed alone. You build the Mexico book. The customer gets someone who actually understands their cross-border headache. Everyone wins.

Track and Celebrate

 Make Mexico wins visible. Share them in team meetings. Recognize the sales reps who bring Mexico opportunities. Create healthy competition.

 The more Mexico wins people see, the more they'll look for them.

The Org Chart at Scale

 When you're at Stage 4 (700+ loads/week), here's what a Mexico org chart might look like:

Mexico Director / VP

 Owns P&L for Mexico business line

 Reports to head of sales or COO

 Sets strategy, manages team, handles key customer relationships

Sales (2-4 people)

 Dedicated Mexico hunters and farmers

 May be split by region (West Coast vs. Texas/Gulf vs. Midwest)

 Focused on new logo acquisition and account growth

Operations (3-5 people)

 Spanish-speaking ops coordinators

 Handle day-to-day execution

 May be split by shift (early for Mexico pickups, late for U.S. deliveries)

Carrier Development (1-2 people)

 Build and maintain carrier relationships

 May be based in Laredo or Monterrey

 Source capacity for new lanes

 This is a $10M+ business line with real infrastructure. But you don't build this on day one. You earn your way here.

What Scale Actually Looks Like

 Here's a reference framework:

 Stage

 Weekly Loads

 Opportunities Quoted

 Annual Revenue

 What It Means

 Testing

 1-2

 5-10/week

 $250K-500K

 Learning, validating lanes, building relationships

 Committed

 35-105

 100-300/week

 $1M-2M

 Dedicated resource, real P&L contribution

 Scaled

 175-525

 500-1,500/week

 $4M-6M

 Team of 3-5, clear SOPs, likely some presence at border

 Dominant

 700-1,750

 2,000+/week

 $10M+

 Functional department, office in Mexico becomes necessary

 For a top 25 broker, 700-1,750 loads per week is where Mexico becomes a meaningful part of your story. Below that, it's a nice add-on. Above that, it's a competitive moat.

The Bottom Line

 Building a Mexico team is about matching investment to volume. Don't overbuild early. Don't underbuild when you have momentum.

 The progression is clear:

Start with one curious person who learns the ropes on the side

Lean in with dedicated time when you have 5+ weekly customers

Hire a Spanish-speaking ops person when you have daily volume

Build a department when you're at 700+ loads per week

 Every stage should feel earned. You're not hiring ahead of demand — you're hiring to handle demand you've already created.

 That's how you build a Mexico operation that scales profitably.

That's the Mexico Freight Playbook — four parts covering why Mexico matters, how to sell it, how to execute it, and how to build the team. If you made it through all four, you know more about Mexico freight than 95% of brokers out there.

Now go find the freight.

Questions about building your Mexico team? Drop me a note. I love talking about this stuff.


---

## The Operations Playbook for Mexico Freight

**Published:** 2026-04-13  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/the-operations-playbook-for-mexico-freight

*Part 3 of the Mexico Freight Playbook — how the freight actually moves, the documents you need, pricing components, and everything you need to execute flawlessly.*


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This is the third post in the Mexico Freight Playbook series. Read Part 1 (why Mexico matters) and Part 2 (how to sell it).

 You've found the freight. You've closed the customer. Now you need to actually move it.

 This is where a lot of brokers get nervous. Cross-border feels complicated — multiple carriers, customs brokers, border crossings, documents with Spanish names. It looks like chaos.

 But here's the thing: it's the same thing every day. It's very repetitive. Once you understand the pattern, you just keep doing it over and over.

 This post is the operations playbook — everything you need to execute Mexico freight reliably.

How the Freight Actually Moves

 Let's start with the basics. A cross-border shipment involves multiple parties:

Mexican carrier — moves freight from origin to the border

Transfer driver — crosses the border (usually a B1 visa holder)

U.S. carrier — delivers from border to destination

Customs brokers — on both sides of the border

 That sounds like a lot. But in practice, you're usually working with one carrier who coordinates all of it. They have their Mexican partner, their transfer drivers, and their U.S. operations. Your job is to give them the freight and make sure the paperwork is in order.

Door-to-Door vs. Transload

 There are two ways freight crosses the border:

Door-to-door: The freight stays on the same U.S. trailer the entire time. A Mexican partner carrier picks up the trailer in Mexico, brings it to the border, a transfer driver crosses it, and then a U.S. driver delivers it. Same trailer, no touching the freight.

Transload: The freight gets unloaded at the border and reloaded onto a different trailer. This is sometimes cheaper, but you're breaking the seal and touching the freight.

 Most of the time, door-to-door is what you want. It's cleaner, less risk, better for your customer's peace of mind. The trailer never opens until it reaches the final destination.

 When does transload make sense? Usually when there's a significant cost savings, when the freight isn't sensitive to handling, or when the customer specifically requests it. But if you're just starting out, default to door-to-door.

B1 Drivers: The Backbone of Cross-Border Capacity

 About 60-70% of cross-border capacity at the southern border involves B1 visa drivers. These are Mexican nationals with business visas that allow them to drive commercially in the U.S. They're employed by U.S. carriers but based at the border — typically in cities like Nuevo Laredo.

 Here's how it works: A Mexican partner carrier handles the interior Mexico portion — picking up in Monterrey or Guadalajara and bringing the trailer to the border. Then a B1 driver takes over. That same driver crosses the border and delivers all the way to Chicago, Dallas, or wherever the freight is going.

 So the B1 driver isn't doing the Mexico interior pickup. They're doing the crossing and the entire U.S. leg. It's often the same driver from Nuevo Laredo who crosses your freight week after week — they know the route, they know the crossing, they know the drill.

 I mentioned this in Part 2, but it's worth repeating: if your customer won't allow B1 drivers on northbound moves, they're dramatically limiting their carrier options. Most carriers at the southern border employ B1 drivers, not CDL holders. Don't let them shoot themselves in the foot.

Understanding the Carrier Structure

 Most carriers you'll work with are U.S.-based trucking companies with DOT numbers and MC numbers. They have cargo insurance in the U.S. They send their trailers into Mexico with partner carriers.

 If you went to a border crossing right now, you'd see Schneider trailers, Werner trailers, J.B. Hunt trailers. American equipment, Mexican tractors pulling it.

 These aren't shady operations. These are legitimate companies that have built relationships with Mexican trucking companies over years. They trust each other because they need each other.

 Most of these carriers are CTPAT certified — Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. It's a federal security program that requires higher standards for freight crossing the border. The same protocols that prevent contraband from entering the U.S. keep your customer's freight safe.

 When a customer asks, "How do I know my freight is secure in Mexico?" — that's your answer. These carriers operate under stricter security requirements than most domestic U.S. carriers.

The Golden Rule of Mexico Operations

Do not pick up a load until you know who the customs broker is.

 I cannot stress this enough. If you pick up freight without a confirmed customs broker at the border, you will end up with a trailer stuck in Mexico. Your carrier will be angry. Your customer will be angry. Everyone will be angry.

 Always confirm the customs broker before the truck loads. Always.

 And here's the critical detail: make sure it's a customs broker physically at the border crossing — not someone in Houston or LA. If the broker isn't at the port where the freight is crossing, something's wrong. Dig in before that truck loads.

The Documents: What They Are and Who Handles Them

 Cross-border freight involves more paperwork than domestic. But here's the good news: you're not creating any of these documents. Your job as the broker is to make sure the right information flows to the right people at the right time.

Your Job as the Broker (Quick Summary)

 Before we dive into each document, here's the bottom line on what you're responsible for:

Get carrier info to the shipper early — so they can generate the Carta Porte

Confirm who the customs broker is — and that they're physically at the crossing

Make sure commercial docs reach the customs broker — commercial invoice, packing list

Verify everything is filed before the truck moves — Entry, e-manifest, Carta Porte

Confirm, confirm, confirm — your job is coordination, not creation

 Now let's break down each document:

CCP / Carta Porte (Complemento Carta Porte)

 If you've only worked domestic U.S. freight, the Carta Porte is going to feel like a bill of lading on steroids. It's a legal document required for any freight moving on Mexican roads — but it's also integrated with Mexico's digital tax system (CFDI), which means it does a lot more than track cargo.

 The Carta Porte includes detailed information about the goods being transported: origin, destination, quantity, type, value of the cargo, the vehicle being used, the planned route, and transportation cost. Authorities at Mexican highway checkpoints can scan the QR code to verify the shipment is legitimate.

 Here's what makes it complicated: there's the physical Carta Porte document (which the driver carries), and then there's the Complemento Carta Porte — a digital extension that gets filed with the CFDI (Mexico's electronic invoicing system). Both are required.

 Why does Mexico require all this? Ultimately, it's about tax collection and supply chain transparency. The detailed documentation prevents businesses from underreporting or evading taxes. It also helps fight illicit transportation practices — if a truck is stopped and the Carta Porte doesn't match what's on board, there are serious penalties.

 For a deeper dive on what the Carta Porte is, why Mexico requires it, and how it's evolved, I wrote about it here: A Carta Porte Deep Dive.

Who creates it: The shipper in Mexico (or their logistics team) generates it before the truck loads

 🚨 Your job as the broker:

 As soon as you book a carrier, collect: carrier company name, MC number, truck number, trailer number, driver name

 Send this info to the shipper or their logistics contact immediately

 Confirm the Carta Porte has been generated before the truck arrives at origin

 If any info is wrong (different truck, different driver), alert the shipper — they need to regenerate it

Without an accurate Carta Porte, the truck cannot legally move in Mexico. This is on you to coordinate.

DODA (Documento de Operación para Despacho Aduanero)

 This is the customs clearance document that authorizes the freight to cross the border. It's generated by the customs broker after all duties and taxes are paid.

Who creates it: The customs broker

 🚨 Your job as the broker:

 Before pickup, confirm the customs broker's name and contact info (they must be at the physical crossing)

 Verify the shipper has sent commercial invoice and packing list to the customs broker

 Confirm duties/taxes are paid and DODA is ready before the truck arrives at the border

If the DODA isn't ready, your trailer sits at the border. Confirm this is handled before the truck loads.

Entry (U.S. Customs Entry)

 This is the U.S. Customs filing for freight entering the United States. It includes classification, valuation, and country of origin for duty calculation.

Who creates it: The U.S. customs broker (usually hired by the shipper or receiver)

 🚨 Your job as the broker:

 Ask your customer: "Who is your U.S. customs broker?" Get the contact info.

 Confirm the Entry has been filed before the truck reaches the crossing

 If you don't know whether it's been filed, call the customs broker directly

No Entry = no crossing. This is your customer's responsibility, but you need to verify it's done.

Manifesto (Manifest)

 The border crossing manifest that lists what's on the truck. It's filed electronically with CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) before the truck crosses.

Who creates it: The carrier files the e-manifest with CBP

 🚨 Your job as the broker:

 When the truck is approaching the border, confirm with your carrier that they've filed the e-manifest

 If they haven't, escalate immediately — this is a blocking issue

No manifest = no crossing. Your carrier handles this, but you need to confirm it's done.

BOL (Bill of Lading)

 You know this one — the standard shipping document that travels with the freight. Same as domestic.

Who creates it: The shipper

 🚨 Your job as the broker:

 Confirm the BOL is accurate (addresses, weight, commodity description)

 Verify the driver has the BOL before leaving origin

Same as domestic — nothing new here.

Packing List / Commercial Invoice

 Not unique to Mexico, but critical for customs clearance. The commercial invoice shows the value of goods; the packing list details what's in each box/pallet.

Who creates it: The shipper

 🚨 Your job as the broker:

 Before pickup, confirm the shipper has sent commercial invoice and packing list to the customs broker

 If the customs broker says they're missing documents, get your shipper on the phone immediately

 These docs need to reach the customs broker BEFORE the freight arrives at the border — not after

No commercial invoice = no customs clearance = trailer stuck. This is the most common documentation failure. Stay on top of it.

The Document Flow in Practice

 Here's how it all comes together:

Northbound (Mexico → U.S.)

 Shipper creates Carta Porte, BOL, commercial invoice, packing list

 Mexican customs broker creates export documentation

 U.S. customs broker files Entry

 Carrier files e-manifest with CBP

 Truck crosses with Carta Porte, DODA, Entry, Manifesto, BOL

Southbound (U.S. → Mexico)

 U.S. shipper creates BOL, commercial invoice, packing list

 You drop trailer at customs broker yard in Laredo (or other border city)

 Mexican customs broker prepares DODA and import documents

 When docs are ready, transfer carrier crosses with your carrier's CAAT/CAT codes

 Mexican carrier picks up and delivers to final destination

 The key insight: you're not creating any of these documents. You're making sure the right information flows to the people who do create them, and confirming everything is in place before the truck moves.

What's in a Mexico Rate

 When you see an "all-in" rate from a carrier, here's what's actually in there:

Mexico line haul — origin to border

Transfer fee — crossing the border

U.S. line haul — border to destination

Fuel — sometimes broken out, sometimes not

 The carrier you're paying keeps the U.S. portion and the transfer fee. They pay their Mexican partner carrier for the Mexico portion.

 Understanding this breakdown matters when you're troubleshooting rates or negotiating. If a lane is expensive, is it the Mexico side or the U.S. side that's driving the cost? Knowing the components helps you have smarter conversations.

Direction Matters — A Lot

 Mexico rates vary dramatically by direction. Southbound and northbound on the same lane can differ by 30-50%.

 Northbound is often more expensive because it requires dual customs clearance (Mexico export plus U.S. import) plus Carta Porte documentation. If your customer ships both ways, the rate difference is an opportunity — and a conversation worth having.

Weekend Dynamics

 Unlike U.S. domestic where weekend freight sometimes goes cheaper, Mexico freight is more expensive on weekends.

 Carriers do a lot of their pickups on Friday to cross over the weekend, so leftover capacity on Saturday/Sunday doesn't translate to lower rates. If you're quoting weekend freight, build in cushion.

Key Corridors and Crossings

 Not all border crossings are created equal:

Laredo — The big one. Handles more truck crossings than any other port. Gateway to Monterrey, the Bajío, Guadalajara, Mexico City. If you're moving freight to or from central Mexico, it's probably crossing here.

El Paso / Juarez — Second busiest. Feeds Chihuahua and sometimes points further south. Strong for automotive and manufacturing.

Tijuana / Otay Mesa — West Coast gateway. Heavy electronics, furniture, produce. If your freight is going to or from Southern California, this is likely your crossing.

Nogales — Produce capital. If it's fresh fruits and vegetables from Mexico, it probably came through here.

Brownsville / Matamoros — Growing, especially for automotive. Serves the eastern Gulf corridor.

McAllen / Pharr — Another strong produce crossing, plus general manufacturing.

 When you're quoting, make sure you understand which crossing makes sense for the lane. A shipment from Guadalajara to Chicago goes through Laredo. A shipment from Tijuana to Phoenix goes through Otay Mesa. The crossing affects the rate and the transit time.

Border Crossing Timeline

 Expect 1-3 days for crossing. Sometimes faster, sometimes slower.

 Your customer should be able to tell you what's normal for their freight. If they say it typically takes 8 days to cross? Something's wrong. That's not normal. Dig in.

 Crossing time depends on:

Documentation — Is everything in order? Missing paperwork = delays.

Inspections — Random inspections happen. CTPAT-certified carriers get inspected less.

Volume — Holiday weekends and month-end can see longer lines.

The crossing itself — Laredo is busiest, but also most efficient. Smaller crossings can be faster or slower depending on the day.

 Set expectations with your customer based on the specific lane. Don't promise next-day crossing if you haven't confirmed the corridor can support it.

Detention and Drop Trailers

Trailer Detention at the Border

 $50-150/day after free time (usually 2-3 days). This is the main accessorial you'll deal with in cross-border.

 If documentation is delayed, your trailer sits. If customs pulls the shipment for inspection, your trailer sits. Build this into your customer conversations upfront so there are no surprises.

Driver Detention at Facilities

 The old conventional wisdom was that Mexican facilities wouldn't pay detention until 5-6+ hours. That's changing. Many facilities now offer 4 hours free, and it's becoming increasingly common to match the U.S. standard of 2 hours.

 There's no hours of service enforcement in Mexico, so the detention math works differently than you're used to. But don't assume facilities will let drivers sit all day without compensation — ask about their policy.

Drop Trailer = Happy Carriers

Pro tip: Carriers strongly prefer drop trailer if they'll be loading at that facility consistently.

 If you can negotiate drop trailer with your customer, your carriers will love you for it — and you'll have better capacity options. This is especially true for repeat lanes. A carrier who can drop and go is a carrier who wants your freight.

Cargo Liability: The Big Difference

 This is one of the most important things to understand about Mexico freight: Mexican carriers carry essentially no cargo insurance.

 In the U.S., if a carrier damages or loses your freight, you can file a claim against their cargo insurance. In Mexico, the carrier's liability is minimal — literally pennies on the dollar based on weight, not value.

 So who insures the freight? Almost always the shipper or receiver. This is standard practice.

 Before you move freight for a customer, ask: "Is this freight insured on your end?" They'll say yes. If they seem confused, that's a red flag worth investigating.

 This doesn't change much operationally — you're still vetting carriers, you're still managing the shipment — but it explains why Mexican facilities are so strict about security protocols, advance notice requirements, and driver verification. Everyone knows the insurance situation, so prevention is everything.

Tracking Requirements

 Most Mexico freight doesn't require anything unusual — your standard tracking updates are fine.

The exception: High-risk, high-value freight (electronics, pharmaceuticals, tequila, automotive components worth serious money). For these shipments, customers may require:

 Tracking every 2 hours

 GPS monitoring

 Security escorts

 If your customer asks for 2-hour tracking updates on standard freight, that's their prerogative, but it's not the norm. Have a conversation about what's actually necessary versus what's adding operational overhead for no reason.

Common Operational Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Mistake 1: Picking Up Without Confirming the Customs Broker

 I said it before, I'll say it again. This is the #1 mistake that kills loads. Confirm the broker before the truck loads. Every time.

Mistake 2: Not Getting Carrier Info to the Shipper Early Enough

 The Carta Porte requires carrier details — company name, truck number, trailer number, driver info. If you don't get this to the shipper in time, they can't generate the Carta Porte, and the truck can't legally move.

 Build this into your booking process. As soon as you confirm a carrier, get their info to the shipper.

Mistake 3: Assuming the Crossing Will Be Fast

 Hope is not a strategy. Build buffer into your transit times, especially when you're new to a lane. Tell your customer 3-5 days for crossing until you have data that says otherwise.

Mistake 4: Forgetting About the Commercial Invoice

 No commercial invoice = no customs clearance = trailer stuck at the border. Make sure your customer sends it to the customs broker before the freight arrives.

Mistake 5: Not Asking About Insurance

 Don't assume. Ask your customer directly: "Is this freight insured on your end?" Document the answer. Protect yourself.

Your First Load Checklist

 Here's a simple checklist for your first few Mexico loads:

Before Booking:

 [ ] Confirm origin and destination (full addresses)

[ ] Confirm border crossing city

[ ] Confirm commodity and trailer type

[ ] Confirm weight and cargo value

[ ] Confirm who handles customs (shipper's broker? your broker?)

[ ] Get customs broker contact info

After Booking:

 [ ] Send carrier info to shipper for Carta Porte

[ ] Confirm commercial invoice and packing list are with the broker

[ ] Confirm Entry is filed (northbound)

[ ] Confirm e-manifest is filed

During Transit:

 [ ] Track pickup confirmation

[ ] Track arrival at border

[ ] Track crossing confirmation

[ ] Track delivery confirmation

After Delivery:

 [ ] Get POD

[ ] Note any issues for next time

[ ] Document what worked for this lane

 This becomes second nature after a few loads. But for your first few, use the checklist. Don't trust your memory.

The Bottom Line

 Mexico operations aren't complicated — they're different. There's a learning curve, but it's not steep.

 The keys:

Confirm the customs broker before you pick up. Every time.

Get carrier info to the shipper early so they can generate the Carta Porte.

Build buffer into crossing times until you know the lane.

Understand liability — the shipper insures the freight, not the carrier.

Document everything — what works, what doesn't, who your reliable carriers are.

 After a few loads, you'll see the pattern. It's the same thing every day. The same documents. The same process. The same players.

 And that's when Mexico freight becomes just another part of your business — except with better margins.

Next in this series: Part 4 — Building the Team (when to hire, who to hire, and how to scale your Mexico operation)

Have questions about Mexico operations? Drop me a note. I love talking about this stuff.


---

## The Sales Playbook for Mexico Freight

**Published:** 2026-04-07  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/the-sales-playbook-for-mexico-freight

*Part 2 of the Mexico Freight Playbook — a deep dive on how to actually sell Mexico freight, from finding opportunities in your existing book to closing deals outside RFP cycles*


This is the second post in the Mexico Freight Playbook series. Read Part 1 here.

 In Part 1, I covered why Mexico matters, how to build the team, and what scale looks like. This post is the sales playbook — how to actually find the freight, get into accounts, and close the business.

 I've done hundreds of Mexico 101 sessions with brokers over the years. This is everything I tell them.

"Where Do I Even Find Mexico Freight? I Don't Speak Spanish. Can I Use Google Translate?"

 I get some version of this question in almost every Mexico 101 session I do. Let me unpack it.

 First, the Spanish thing: you don't need to speak Spanish to sell Mexico freight. I can't tell you how many times I've talked to sales reps that are like: "I'm using Google Translate to call shippers in Mexico and emailing them."

 Please don't do that.

 Here's the thing — you're not selling to shippers in Mexico. You're selling to shippers in the United States who happen to have freight going to or coming from Mexico. Big difference.

 The transportation manager in Mexico City or Monterrey or Aguascalientes gets cold-called every single day by Mexican trucking companies. They have salespeople walking into their facility constantly saying "I have trucks, give me your freight." Everyone knows that the Honda plant in Guadalajara ships freight to the U.S. They're getting calls all day about it.

 But Brett at the Tier 2 automotive supplier in Mount Juliet, Tennessee? The guy whose main job is managing U.S. distribution and the Mexico stuff is just this headache he inherited? Nobody is calling him about Mexico. Nobody.

 Brett doesn't know how cross-border works. He doesn't speak Spanish either. He doesn't have time to figure it out. But he's got two trucks a day coming from his supplier in Aguascalientes and he's paying way too much because he doesn't know any better.

Be the person who solves Brett's problem. That's your unfair advantage.

 You don't need Spanish to talk to Brett. You need to understand cross-border freight well enough to explain it simply. That's it.

 Now, where do you find the Bretts? Where do you find the freight? That's what this entire playbook is about. Let's get into it.

Start With Your Existing Book

 The easiest place to start is freight you're already moving. When it comes to your existing book, you want to do three things:

1. Check for Border City Freight and Pitch the Conversion

 Go into your TMS right now and pull every load that picks up or delivers in a border city: Laredo, El Paso, McAllen, Brownsville, Eagle Pass, Nogales, Pharr.

 If it's delivering to Laredo (or any border city except San Diego), it's almost certainly going across the border. Those "J&J Forwarding" deliveries in Laredo? That freight is going to Mexico. You just don't know it yet.

 Here's the conversation:

"I noticed this load delivers to a forwarder in Laredo. I can take this all the way into Mexico for you — door-to-door, no one touches the freight at the border, better visibility, less risk of damage. Who can I talk to about your cross-border freight?"

 That's an instant conversation opener with a warm lead. Nothing beats a warm lead.

 And if they don't handle the Mexico piece themselves, ask who does. They'll usually give you that contact, and now you've got another warm lead:

"I work with so-and-so on the U.S. side. We move four or five loads a week from Ohio to El Paso. We want to provide service on the Mexico side and take this direct for you."

Here's a real example of what this conversion looks like.

 I got a call from a guy I used to work with who'd moved to a CPG company bringing temp-controlled food product out of Mexico — guacamole, specifically — into their distribution centers in the Midwest.

 He said: "We have no idea when our freight is actually going to show up. We don't know when it's going to get to the border. We don't know when it's going to cross. We just get it in Laredo and try to pick it up from there, and half the time we've got a truck pre-arranged that ends up sitting at the border because the load didn't cross in time."

 The problem? Their co-packer in Mexico was handling the transportation. Freight was moving from the co-packer's facility to the border, and the shipper had no visibility, no control, and no ability to plan.

 I told him: go back to your co-packer and tell them you're going to pick it up from their facility. You take over the move from origin in Mexico all the way to your warehouse.

 Once they did that, the detention charges disappeared. The border delays went away. They had complete visibility from the moment the truck left Mexico to when it rolled into their dock. They cut the risk, cut the cost, and completely controlled their supply chain.

 This is one of the most underrated conversations you can have with a customer: "Do you actually control your cross-border moves, or is someone else handing it off to you at the border?"

 If the answer is the latter — if there's a co-packer, a supplier, or a forwarder making those arrangements — that's your opening. Step in. Take over the full move. Give them visibility they've never had.

2. Compare Your Book to Target Industries

 Look at your customer list and compare it to the industries that over-index in Mexico freight: automotive, electronics, appliances, furniture, retail, food & beverage, industrial components, apparel. If your customers fall into these categories, they almost certainly have Mexico freight — they just haven't told you about it.

3. Ask Your Customers

 This sounds obvious, but most brokers don't do it: tell your customers you can service their Mexico lanes and ask them for it.

 If you don't tell them you can do it, and if you don't market it, they won't tell you about it. They assume you're a domestic-only shop. You have to put it out there.

 Send an email. Mention it on your next call. Add it to your email signature. Whatever it takes to get the word out that you handle cross-border.

Walk the Store, Read the Labels

 This sounds old school because it is. But it works.

 Go to a grocery store, Home Depot, Lowe's — any retailer. Look at the labels. "Made in Mexico" or "Hecho en México" means there's freight moving.

 And don't just look at the finished product — think about the packaging materials too. Those caps on your water bottle? Extremely high chance they were produced in Ensenada, BCN. The plastic components, the cardboard, the shrink wrap — all of that is freight.

 Trace it back: Who's the manufacturer? Where's their U.S. distribution? Who's handling their transportation? Who makes their packaging?

 That's a great story to start a conversation: "Hey, I was at the grocery store. I saw you guys make your stuff in Mexico. Can I help you ship it?"

 I've used that line multiple times. It actually works.

Target Industries That Over-Index

 Some industries are loaded with Mexico freight:

Automotive — Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers especially

Electronics — Assembly operations throughout the Bajío

Appliances — Major brands manufacture in Mexico

Furniture and home goods — Growing fast due to China tariffs

Retail — Private label and store brand products

Food & Beverage — Produce, packaged goods, ingredients

Industrial components and machinery — Motors, gears, electrical components

Apparel and textiles — Another China-shift beneficiary

 If you have customers in these categories, they have Mexico freight. They might just not know you can help with it.

 A lot of the time they assume you don't do cross-border, so they don't tell you about it. You have to ask.

The RFP Bypass

 Here's the best part about Mexico freight: it's almost never on their standard RFP.

 Every salesperson has gotten the "we just ran our RFP two months ago" objection. You set a reminder for 10 months from now and move on.

 With Mexico, you don't have to wait. When they hit you with that objection, you pivot:

"I totally understand. What about Mexico? That's usually not on the RFP. Who handles that for you?"

 Nine times out of ten, they say something like: "Oh, we basically just give all that to Landstar" or "Swift handles it, but honestly we're not super happy with them."

 And now you're in a conversation that can close this week — not in 10 months.

 I did this with a Fortune 100 shipper right after Arrive acquired Forager. The sales rep had been trying to get a meeting for months. They kept saying no. Finally he said "we just bought Forager, we can do cross-border" and they took the call.

 I was on a call with that shipper two weeks after the acquisition closed. We got consistent freight from them, then expanded into their domestic U.S. business. They became a major account.

 The ability to get in outside of an RFP cycle when you have something unique and niche to offer — I've seen it work multiple times.

How to Find the Bretts

 I introduced you to Brett earlier — the Tier 2 supplier in Tennessee that nobody's calling about Mexico freight. Now let's talk about how to actually find these people.

 Do some research before you reach out. Go to their website. A lot of companies list their facilities right on their website, which is really cool. You can see they have a plant in Guanajuato or Querétaro.

 Then your outreach is direct and specific:

"I see you have a manufacturing facility in Querétaro and distribution in the United States. We provide cross-border services — we can give you capacity to export from Mexico to the U.S. Let me know when you have time to talk."

 Be short and sweet. That's what customers are looking for.

 Here's a pro tip: Google "Nissan Sentra suppliers" and you'll find one of those pictures of a car with all the different logos pointing off it — that's a feeding frenzy. Every one of those suppliers is receiving parts from or shipping parts to Mexico.

 Even better — pull up Google Maps around a major OEM facility. The Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga has an entire industrial park surrounding it: Gestamp, Yanfeng, Grupo Antolin, Faurecia, Schnellecke — all Tier 1 suppliers receiving components from Mexico every day. Nobody is cold-calling those companies about Mexico freight.

Land and Expand

 Mexico freight is stickier than domestic, and it opens doors to everything else.

 When you talk to a shipper, their biggest problem is not usually going to be cross-border. They're gonna say it's something like tracking or capacity or rates. But when you ask them about Mexico, they'll go: "Oh, well, yeah, I mean it's like 10% of our freight spend. So it's not a huge amount of our business, but it's a huge headache."

 That 10% is a major pain point. They might not offer it up to you — you have to pull at it. But when you solve that problem, you've got a customer for life.

 Here's why Mexico freight is so sticky: your customers might be transactional on their domestic U.S. freight, testing you out with spot loads here and there. But when it comes to cross-border, they're a lot more consistent with who they're going to work with because it's got a whole operational aspect to it. They're expecting consistency. They're going to give you more consistent freight because that freight needs to move consistently.

 Once you prove you can do it, they stick with you. That makes it sticky revenue. Then you grow into their domestic freight, their Canadian freight, everything else.

Target Mid-Sized, Not Enterprise

 Go after the medium-sized accounts, not the enterprise logos.

 Everyone's calling Coke and Heineken and Home Depot. Literally everybody. The lesser-known companies — the Tier 2 suppliers, the regional manufacturers — are going to be your best customers because nobody else is sprinting after their Mexico freight.

 The bigger brokers have their hands full with the larger enterprise accounts, and they're very comfortable with them. They don't want to spend time where you're going to be focusing.

 And here's the thing about furniture, home goods, apparel, and textiles right now: because of the tariffs on China, these industries are growing fast in Mexico. A lot of those manufacturers are small now, but they can grow to mid-sized. If you can get in with a smaller manufacturer while demand is high, as they're looking for a reliable partner, you can grow with them.

 You can go from shipping 10 loads a month to 100 loads a month because now they've bought a new facility, they have more people, they can start producing more to meet the demand. Get in early.

Overcoming Sales Rep Hesitation

 Here's something I hear constantly: "My sales reps are timid to expose their customers because they just don't know."

 They're scared to bring up Mexico because they don't understand the mechanics. They're worried they'll look dumb or promise something they can't deliver.

 The fix is simple: you need your Mexico person on those customer calls. Not buried in carrier communication all day — on the calls, selling.

 When I was at Coyote, I'd send an email to the entire sales floor. Not a generic "we do Mexico now" announcement — I'd list the specific industries and commodities that signal Mexico freight. Automotive parts, appliances, electronics, tequila, paper products.

 When you name those commodities, salespeople self-identify. They go, "Oh, I have a customer that ships automotive parts" or "My customer is a supplier for that company." That's your pipeline.

 Then I'd get on the call with them as the Mexico expert. And every time, I could say, "I know exactly who's going to take this freight. I can name three carriers right now." That credibility came from having covered the freight myself.

 Do 80% of the work for the sales rep. They still get paid their commission on freight they never could have closed alone. You build the Mexico book. The customer finally has someone who actually understands their cross-border headache. Everyone wins.

The Discovery Call: What Questions to Ask

 When you're talking to your customer and finding out about their Mexico freight, you want to discover where they have problems — without asking them directly, "Where's your problem?"

 Because customers, as we all know, are perfect. They're not going to just tell you they have a problem.

Find Out What Drives Their Decision

 The key coaching advice I give: figure out whether it's price, service, or complexity that drives their decision-making.

If it's price: They're shopping rates. You need to show value beyond the number — the complexity premium is justified, and you can explain why.

If it's service: They've been burned before. Loads showing up late. No visibility. Communication breakdowns. This is your sweet spot — service wins in cross-border.

If it's complexity: They don't understand how it works and they're scared of it. They need a partner who can walk them through it and make it feel simple.

Are They Stuck With a Big Player Who Puts Them Last?

 Here's a question that opens doors: "Who's handling your Mexico freight right now?"

 A lot of customers are relying on the same big player — one of the mega-brokers who treats their Mexico volume as an afterthought. Their freight gets put last. They're not a priority.

 When you hear that, you've found your angle. You can be the partner who actually prioritizes their cross-border business, who picks up the phone, who knows their lanes.

Questions That Reveal Pain

 Ask questions like:

 Are you losing visibility on the Mexico side?

 Are you losing visibility at the border waiting to cross?

 Are you having delays with border paperwork?

 Once you have paperwork, are you delayed crossing and getting to final delivery?

 Do you actually control your cross-border moves, or is someone else handing it off to you at the border?

 These questions help you discover problems you can solve. Then when you provide a rate, you can say:

"Based on our conversations, I know you're having trouble with visibility at the border. We'll be able to provide you with that visibility. Here's the rate. Let me know when we can pick up."

 That's capitalizing on the complexity. The whole cross-border sale is service, 100%. It's not just moving freight — it's a service that you need to execute on to have success.

Quoting Like a Pro

Q: How do I price this stuff? I have no idea what the rates should be.

 You need seven pieces of information to give a real rate — not a guess, not a range, a real rate:

Origin and destination

Border crossing city (Laredo, El Paso, etc.)

Commodity — Never post FAK (Freight All Kinds). Carriers won't move it because they need specifics for CTPAT compliance.

Trailer type

Weight

Cargo value

Who handles the crossing — If this is unknown, STOP. Clarify before quoting.

A note on B1 drivers: If your customer (or you) won't allow a B1 driver to do the northbound crossing, you're dramatically limiting the carrier base. Most carriers at the southern border employ B1 drivers, not CDL drivers. Don't shoot yourself in the foot — or let your customer shoot themselves in the foot — by restricting this capacity unnecessarily.

 When a customer asks "what's the rate for Mexico?", the correct answer is: "I need seven pieces of information to give you a real rate." Then walk them through the list.

Margin Expectations

 Domestic freight averages maybe $150-200 margin per load. Cross-border Mexico, especially northbound, averages $500 a load. Open deck: $1,750-2,000.

 The margins are two to three times higher than domestic. Don't be afraid to price accordingly.

 A good sweet spot is around 20%. There are opportunities where you can go a lot higher than that — the more specific the freight, the more problems you're solving, the more you can charge. But don't go below 15%. Mexico freight commands a complexity premium, and it's justified.

 If the customer pushes back on rate, explain the value: customs coordination, carrier vetting, tracking, security. You're not just moving freight — you're managing a multi-party operation across two countries.

Direction Matters

 Mexico rates vary dramatically by direction. Southbound and northbound on the same lane can differ by 30-50%.

 Northbound is often more expensive because it requires dual customs clearance (Mexico export plus U.S. import) plus Carta Porte documentation. If your customer ships both ways, the rate difference is an opportunity.

Handling Objections

 Here are the five objections I hear most often — and how to handle them:

"Freight gets stolen in Mexico."

 In my entire career brokering Mexico freight, I can count the theft incidents on one hand. It happens less frequently than in the U.S. domestic market.

 Guy Fieri's tequila got stolen in the U.S., not Mexico. Most tequila that ships out of Guadalajara runs with security escorts. They know exactly where those drivers are supposed to go. They have security protocols.

 The freight that gets targeted is high-risk, high-value: tequila, electronics, pharmaceuticals. And those shippers know it — they have protocols in place. Regular freight? The risk is overstated.

"The border is chaos."

 It looks chaotic at first. There's a lot going on — maybe 12 people on every email. Somebody is always getting blamed for something.

 But reality is the same 12 people are on every email and they're always doing the same thing over and over again. It's a lot of repeatable tasks. Once you understand the pattern, you just keep doing it.

 You'll start to see a rhythm and a system. You just have to learn it as you start to operate it.

"I need someone in Mexico."

 No, you don't. Not to start. If anything, add someone at the border (Laredo) before you add someone in Mexico. That's where the carriers are, where the customs brokers are, where the action is.

 When you find yourself going down to Laredo every week, that's when you hire someone there.

"It's all about price."

 Relationships and reliability win every single day. Shippers will be more flexible on pricing as long as it's within reason — more flexible than you see on domestic freight.

 You can win freight without having the cheapest rate. Service matters more in cross-border.

"What about liability?"

 This is one of the most common concerns, especially for first-time Mexico shippers.

 Mexican carriers carry essentially no cargo insurance — the carrier's liability is minimal. So who insures the freight? Almost always the shipper or receiver. This is standard practice.

 Before you move freight for a customer, ask: "Is this freight insured on your end?" They'll say yes. If they seem confused, that's a red flag worth investigating.

 This doesn't change much operationally. You're still vetting carriers, still managing the shipment. But the insurance situation explains why facilities are strict about security protocols — everyone knows prevention is everything.

RFP Season Timing

 If you do want to play the RFP game, cross-border RFPs follow a predictable calendar:

September–October: RFPs go out

November–December: Responses due

December–January: Awards announced

February: Freight starts moving

 But here's the thing — and I said this earlier — you don't have to wait for RFP season with Mexico freight. Most shippers handle their cross-border outside their standard bid process. That means you can get in any time of year.

 So yes, if there's an RFP, go after it. But don't let the calendar stop you from prospecting year-round. The RFP bypass is one of the biggest advantages of selling Mexico.

The Bottom Line

 Selling Mexico freight isn't that different from selling any other freight. You're solving problems for customers. You're building relationships. You're demonstrating expertise.

 The difference is that fewer people are doing it, which means less competition. The margins are higher. And once you win the business, it's stickier than domestic.

 Start with your existing book. Ask every customer with border freight if you can take it all the way. Target the U.S. contacts, not the Mexican ones. Get in outside the RFP cycle with your Mexico wedge.

 The freight is hiding in your book. Go find it.

Next in this series: Part 3 — The Operations Playbook (how the freight actually moves, pricing components, documents, and execution)

Have questions about selling Mexico freight? Drop me a note. I love talking about this stuff.


---

## Why Mexico Freight Is the Biggest Opportunity in Brokerage Right Now

**Published:** 2026-04-02  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/why-mexico-freight-is-the-biggest-opportunity-in-brokerage-right-now

*The full business case for Mexico freight — from why it matters to how to find shippers, build the team, and scale the department.*


This is the first post in the Mexico Freight Playbook series.

 I got into Mexico freight by accident. I was working carrier sales at a large brokerage, covering loads, building relationships with carriers — and I kept gravitating toward the cross-border stuff because nobody else wanted to touch it. The margins were great. The freight was interesting. And I was one of the only people on a floor of hundreds who understood how it worked.

 One day the COO walked over to my desk and said, "Your new job is to go grow the Mexico business." So I flew to Laredo, met with a customs broker, won our first real cross-border customer, and started building relationships with carriers up and down the border.

 When I got back, I sent an email to the entire sales floor about what I'd learned — the margin opportunity, the industries, the lanes. Within days, sales reps were reaching out: "I have a customer with Mexico freight. Can you hop on a call with me?" So I started jumping on customer calls as the Mexico expert. And every time, I could say, "I know exactly who's going to take this freight. I can name three carriers right now." That credibility came from having covered the freight myself.

 That was the beginning. I went on to build Mexico operations at two different companies and train dozens of sales teams on how to actually win this business.

 But back in 2015, selling and moving Mexico freight felt like operating in a different decade. We were using Nextels to communicate with carriers in Mexico. Updates were fuzzy, handoffs were manual, and a "simple" border move could turn into a 20-text-message logistics exercise just to understand where the trailer was and who had it.

 That experience is why I built Cargado. Mexico freight isn't inherently impossible — it's just been underserved by modern workflow and modern market data. We're building the marketplace and infrastructure layer so brokers can reliably find capacity, run clean execution across multiple legs, and price with confidence using real carrier bids.

 This is the guide I wish I'd had when I started. Let's go deep.

Why Mexico, Why Now?

Q: Why should I care about Mexico freight when I've got plenty of domestic business?

 Here's the thing: trade with Mexico and Canada continues to increase while trade with China decreases. Nearshoring isn't a trend — it's a structural shift in how North American supply chains work. Manufacturing is moving closer to end consumers, and Mexico is the biggest beneficiary.

 But here's what really matters for your business:

The margin opportunity is substantial. Cross-border freight consistently pays more than domestic — and it's not close. Open deck in particular is one of the most lucrative segments in all of freight brokerage right now.

 I've seen brokers go from zero Mexico experience to running profitable operations within 36 hours of their first load. The freight is there. The margin is there. The question is whether you're going to capture it.

Finding Shippers with Mexico Freight

Q: How do I actually find shippers that have Mexico freight?

 Three methods that work:

Method 1: Check Your Existing Book

 Go into your TMS right now and pull every load that picks up or delivers in a border city: Laredo, El Paso, McAllen, Brownsville, Eagle Pass, Nogales.

 If it's picking up or delivering in Laredo (or any border city except San Diego), it's almost certainly going across the border. Those "J&J Forwarding" deliveries in Laredo? That freight is going to Mexico. You just don't know it yet.

 Call your customer: "I noticed this load delivers to a forwarder in Laredo. Can I take this all the way into Mexico for you? Door-to-door, no one touches the freight at the border, better visibility, less risk of damage."

 That's an instant conversation opener.

 Here's a real example of what this looks like in practice. I got a call from a guy I used to work with in a previous job. He'd moved into a role at a CPG company that was bringing temp-controlled food product out of Mexico — guacamole, specifically — into their distribution centers in the Midwest. And he said, "We have no idea when our freight is actually going to show up. We don't know when it's going to cross. We just get it in Laredo and try to pick it up from there, and half the time we've got a truck pre-arranged that ends up sitting at the border because the load didn't cross in time."

 The problem? Their copacker in Mexico was handling the transportation. Freight was moving from the copacker's facility to the border, and the shipper had no visibility, no control, and no ability to plan.

 I told him: go back to your copacker and tell them you're going to pick it up from their facility. You take over the move from origin in Mexico all the way to your warehouse. Once they did that, the detention charges disappeared. The border delays went away. They had complete visibility from the moment the truck left Mexico to when it rolled into their dock. They cut the risk, cut the cost, and completely controlled their supply chain.

 This is one of the most underrated conversations you can have with a customer: "Do you actually control your cross-border moves, or is someone else handing it off to you at the border?" If the answer is the latter — if there's a copacker, a supplier, or a forwarder making those arrangements — that's your opening. Step in. Take over the full move. Give them visibility they've never had. That's how you win sticky, recurring freight.

Method 2: Walk the Store, Read the Labels

 This sounds old school because it is. Walk through Home Depot, Lowe's, or any retailer. Read the labels. "Made in Mexico" or "Hecho en México" means there's freight moving.

 Now trace it back: Who's the manufacturer? Where's their U.S. distribution? Who's handling their transportation? That's your target.

Method 3: Target the Right Industries

 Some industries are loaded with Mexico freight:

Automotive — Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers especially

Appliances — Major brands manufacture in Mexico

Electronics — Assembly operations throughout the Bajío

Furniture — Growing manufacturing base

Food & Beverage — Produce, packaged goods, ingredients

Retail — Private label and store brand products

 If you have customers in these categories, they have Mexico freight. They might just not know you can help with it.

 Here's a pro tip I've shared with dozens of sales teams: don't just go after the big OEM. Go after their supplier base. Google "Nissan Sentra suppliers" and you'll find one of those pictures of a car with all the different logos pointing off it — that's a feeding frenzy. Every one of those suppliers is receiving parts from or shipping parts to Mexico.

 Even better — pull up Google Maps around a major OEM facility. The Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga has an entire industrial park surrounding it: Gestamp, Yanfeng, Grupo Antolin, Faurecia, Schnellecke — all Tier 1 suppliers receiving components from Mexico every day. Nobody is cold-calling those companies about Mexico freight. I had a customer like that outside Nashville — a Tier 2 supplier for Nissan making seat frames. Two trucks a day, and I kept them for years because nobody else knew they existed.

Your Mexico Expert Is in the Wrong Seat

 If you have someone on your team who knows Mexico freight — who's been covering loads, talking to carriers, sending WhatsApp messages all day — and that's all they're doing, you are wasting your most valuable resource.

 I lived this. The credibility I built from covering Mexico freight is what made me effective on customer calls. But the value was on the sales side — helping reps close deals they couldn't close on their own. That's what grew the business, not the WhatsApp threads.

 Your Mexico person shouldn't be buried in carrier communication all day. They should be on customer calls with your sales reps, selling Mexico as a service. Get a Spanish-speaking operations person to handle the carrier communication, the customs broker coordination, the pickup scheduling. Let your Mexico expert do what only they can do: walk into a customer conversation and instantly demonstrate that your company knows how to move freight across the border.

 And if that person has never been in a "sales" role — don't let that hold you back. They don't need to be a closer. They're an expert. They understand the details — the lanes, the carriers, the border process, the pricing dynamics. They'll ask the right questions because they've lived it. And any shipper with Mexico freight will look right past whether someone has traditional sales experience the moment that person starts talking about how customs clearance actually works or which carriers run the Monterrey-to-Laredo corridor every day. Expertise is the sale.

 Once you're on those calls, do 80% of the work for the sales rep. They still get paid their commission on freight they never could have closed alone. You build the Mexico book. The customer finally has someone who actually understands their cross-border headache. Everyone wins.

 Here's how you get the pipeline moving: send an email to your entire sales floor. Not a generic "we do Mexico now" announcement — list the specific industries and commodities that signal Mexico freight. Automotive parts, appliances, electronics, tequila, paper products. When you name those commodities, salespeople self-identify. They go, "Oh, I have a customer that ships automotive parts" or "My customer is a supplier for that company." That's your pipeline.

 And go after the medium-sized accounts, not the enterprise logos. Everyone's calling Coke and Heineken and Home Depot. Literally everybody. The lesser-known companies — the Tier 2 suppliers, the regional manufacturers — are going to be your best customers because nobody else is sprinting after their Mexico freight.

Building the Team

Q: Do I need to hire people for Mexico?

 Not at first. And definitely not before you have real volume.

 The biggest mistake I see is people thinking they need to set up an office in Laredo or hire a team in Monterrey before they move their first load. Don't overbuild. Here's how to think about staffing as you grow:

Stage 1: Getting Started (0-5 Customers)

 You don't need anyone dedicated to Mexico yet. Your existing team can handle this.

 Pick one person — someone curious, someone who wants to learn — and let them own the early loads. They're not full-time on Mexico. They're just the person who figures it out when Mexico freight comes up.

 That person builds expertise with each shipment. They learn the carriers. They understand the lanes. They know which customs brokers are reliable. But they're still doing their regular job.

Stage 2: Building Momentum (5+ Customers with Weekly Volume)

 Once you have five or more customers giving you volume on a weekly basis, it's time to lean in.

 Now you want someone devoting real time — not necessarily full-time, but meaningful time — to selling Mexico to your other customers. This is the person who starts asking every account manager: "Hey, does your customer have any Mexico freight?"

 They're still not dedicated full-time. But Mexico is now a real part of their job, not just something they handle when it comes up.

Stage 3: Operations Investment (Daily Volume from Several Customers)

 This is the inflection point where you need to make a real hire.

 When you have daily volume from several customers, you'll need an operations person who is fluent in Spanish. Their job is to talk to the customs brokers and facilities in Mexico, coordinate with your U.S. ops team and account managers, and make sure freight moves smoothly.

 Here's how I sourced this talent in the past: I walked the sales floor and found the Spanish speakers. That's it. I went up to them and said, "You and you — come with me. This will be way more interesting than what you're doing right now." If their family's from Mexico, they're usually excited about the opportunity. It feels personal to them.

 They don't need experience with Mexico freight. They don't need to know what a DODA is or how a border crossing works. They just need to be fluent in Spanish. You'll teach them the freight side. What you can't teach is the language or culture.

 This person doesn't need to be in Mexico. They can be anywhere. But they need to speak Spanish fluently, and you need to position this little team as a centralized shared resource for your entire sales floor — not as an individual contributor buried in one book of business. Every rep at your company should know: when Mexico freight comes up, call this team.

 Your U.S. account managers stay focused on the customer relationship. Your Spanish-speaking ops person handles the Mexico-side coordination. They work together.

Stage 4: Full Department

 Once you're running serious volume on a daily basis, you're building a real department. Now you might consider:

 Dedicated sales headcount for Mexico

 An office presence in Laredo or Monterrey

 Multiple ops people covering different shifts or regions

 But don't jump to Stage 4 until you've earned it. Most brokers stall out because they overbuild too early, not because they underinvest.

The First Year Playbook

Q: What should my first year look like?

Quarter 1: Foundation

 Audit your existing book for border city freight

 Identify 10-20 target accounts with likely Mexico freight

 Move your first loads (aim for profitability by load 2-3)

 Source carriers through Cargado — you need dozens, not two or three, and the platform gets you there fast. But don't stop at the screen. Get yourself to Laredo and spend time with those carriers in person. Until you've been to Laredo, you don't know what you're missing.

Quarter 2: Traction

 Establish consistent lanes with repeat customers

 Expand carrier relationships based on lane needs

 Start training a second person on Mexico basics

 Target: 20-30 loads per month

Quarter 3: Process

 Document your SOPs

 Systematize carrier selection by lane

 Build quoting confidence on key corridors

 Target: 50+ loads per month

Quarter 4: Scale

 Evaluate dedicated headcount needs

 Consider office presence in Laredo (if volume warrants)

 Expand into adjacent services (expedited, open deck, reefer)

 Target: 100+ loads per month

What Scale Actually Looks Like

Q: I'm at a top 25 broker. What's "serious" Mexico volume?

 Here's how I'd frame it:

 A good ops rep can handle 5-10 cross-border loads per day. That math drives your team size at every stage:

 Stage

 Volume

 Mexico Team

 What It Means

 Testing

 A couple to several loads/week

 Internal champion advocates for opportunities

 You're learning, validating lanes, building carrier relationships

 Committed

 A few loads/day

 1 person focused on Mexico coverage + co-selling to customers

 Real P&L contribution, dedicated focus

 Growing

 Dozens of loads/day

 3-5 carrier sales reps covering freight, 2-3 ops reps on Mexico scheduling and border coordination, Mexico lead co-selling

 SOPs in place, carrier network expanding, border presence emerging

 Scaled

 100-250 loads/day

 10+ carrier sales reps, 10-15 ops reps, dedicated customer sales, border office

 Full team, multiple shifts, clear competitive advantage

 Dominant

 250-1,000+ loads/day

 25+ carrier sales, 25+ ops, dedicated sales and management team

 Full department, office in Mexico, competitive moat

 The top brokers are moving upwards of 1,000 loads per day cross-border. At 250+ daily loads, Mexico becomes a meaningful part of your story and you have a real functional department — including an office in Mexico. Below that, it's a growing business unit. Above that, it's a competitive moat.

The Bottom Line

 The margin opportunity is real. The competitive moat is real. The growth trajectory is real.

 The only question is whether you're going to capture it or watch someone else do it.

 I've helped build two successful Mexico departments. I've trained dozens of sales teams. And I can tell you with certainty: the brokers who lean into this now will have a structural advantage for years to come.

 The freight is hiding in your book. Go find it.

Next in this series: The Sales Playbook for Mexico Freight — how to get into accounts and win the business.

Have questions about getting started? Drop me a note. I love talking about this stuff.


---

## The Builder's Moment: Why 2026 Will Separate the Founders from the Followers

**Published:** 2026-03-26  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/the-builder-s-moment-why-2026-will-separate-the-founders-from-the-followers

*AI isn't replacing company builders — it's creating the greatest leverage opportunity in history. The founders who lean in now will build companies that were impossible just 12 months ago.*


I've never been more excited to build a company than I am right now.

 Not because things are easy. Not because the path is clear. But because we're living through one of those rare moments in history where the rules of what's possible are being completely rewritten — and the founders who see it are going to build things that nobody thought possible just 12 months ago.

 Let me tell you what I mean. And let me start with a confession.

How I Got Red-Pilled

 Six months ago, I was the guy making AI-generated pictures for fun. Cool party trick. Neat technology. But not something that was going to fundamentally change how we built Cargado.

 Then something shifted.

 I started using Claude Code to stitch together our marketplace data with our HubSpot data. I'm not a developer. I've never written a line of code in my life. But suddenly I was building real systems that pulled insights I couldn't have gotten before.

 Then I built my first Notion agent. Then another. Then I couldn't stop.

 Within weeks, I went from "AI is interesting" to "we're going all in on this."

 I literally told my team in January: "Here's the deal — we are going all in on AI, and I will devote some of my time to meet with people in smaller groups or 1:1 to coach you through how to use it."

 That's when I knew I'd been red-pilled. Once you see what's possible, you can't unsee it.

The Most Consequential Technology We've Ever Seen

 Today, I have 20+ AI agents running in production at Cargado, some are Notion agents and some were built with Claude:

 One monitors every customer and prospect call, extracts quotes, and tracks feedback automatically

 One tracks all Canada and Mexico-related conversations across Slack and calls, stitching them into a market intel database

 One maintains a self-healing wiki that updates our product knowledge base when things change

 One generates and schedules my content based on my writing style and voice

 One analyzes our sales pipeline and flags deals that need attention

 These aren't experiments. These are production systems that replaced work that would have required multiple full-time employees.

 And here's what's wild: I built most of these myself. Not our engineering team. Me — a guy who has never written production code in his life.

 This is the most consequential technology the world has ever seen. And we're still in the early innings.

40 People With the Impact of 250

 In December, I recognized two team members — Carlos and Zach — who had built real production systems with Claude and VAPI that let them do work that would have required entire teams at traditional companies.

 When I shared that recognition, I wrote something that captures exactly what we're building toward:

"2026 is going to be dramatically different than 2025. The way companies are built is evolving right now. We're not building a 250-person company — we're building a team of fewer than 40 people who operate with the impact of 250 through the right technology and infrastructure."

 That's not a slogan. That's our actual operating model.

 Our engineering team's productivity has approximately doubled since late 2025. And we think we can get to a substantially higher multiple on the impact. Not by working longer hours — by working with AI as a genuine multiplier.

The Question That Changed My Thinking

 A few weeks ago, I was in a conversation where someone asked a simple question that reframed everything:

"Do you think about AI as the product, or AI as the accelerant to the things people do?"

 For us, the answer is clear: AI is the accelerant.

 We're not an AI company. We're a freight marketplace that uses AI to move faster than anyone thought possible. The AI isn't what we sell—it's what makes our small team punch way above our weight class.

 That distinction matters. A lot of companies are building AI wrappers — using LLMs to make phone calls, scrape data, generate emails. And look, that stuff works. But we're building something different.

 We're building the modern version of the ledger — the structured source of truth for cross-border freight. Pickup locations, delivery locations, dates, times, trailer types, commodities. Structured data that moves at machine speed.

 When you combine AI agents with structured data:

 We can auto-post freight based on complex rules that used to take months to build

 We can generate accurate rates by pulling from real marketplace data

 We can write TMS integrations automatically because we understand the data structure

 We can scale to thousands of customers without scaling our team linearly

 That's not a feature. That's a moat.

The Human Multiplier Effect

 Here's the part that makes me most excited: AI doesn't replace great people. It makes them superhuman.

 Carlos and Zach aren't being replaced. They're being amplified. They're building systems that let them do several jobs at once — not because they're working harder, but because they're working with leverage that didn't exist 18 months ago.

 The single-thread employee who can only do one specific task? Sure, we don't need to hire for that anymore. But the creative problem-solver who can harness AI to do ten things at once? That person is now worth 10x what they were worth two years ago.

 That's why I've been coaching team members 1:1 on how to use these tools. Not because it's a nice perk — because it's a competitive advantage. The companies where leadership actively pushes AI adoption will move faster than the ones where it bubbles up from individual contributors.

The Opportunity Window

 Here's what I keep thinking about: this window won't last forever.

 Right now, most companies in our industry — hell, most companies everywhere — are still skeptical. They're waiting to see how this plays out. They're debating whether AI is overhyped. They're forming committees to study it.

 Meanwhile, companies like us are shipping.

 Every week we sprint at this technology, our competitors fall another week behind. The gap isn't 10%. It's 10x.

 And that's not hyperbole. Look at what's happening at Cargado:

 Our engineering team built an entire new search feature using AI — zero manual code writing required

 We're processing RFPs that used to take hours in minutes

 We're building with minimal planned hires in 2026 while targeting the impact of a 250-person company

 This is the builder's moment.

The Moment That Made It Real

 I want to share a few moments that have stopped me in my tracks recently.

 I drive a Tesla, and I use Full Self-Driving 99.9% of the time. The only thing I do myself is back into my garage — and honestly, if I let it pull in on its own, it would back itself out too. I'm basically a passenger in my own car. And it just … works.

 I set up an AI agent named Walter that can make phone calls on my behalf. Recently I had Walter call the barbershop and schedule concurrent haircut appointments for me and my son — so I didn't have to wait on hold for someone to answer. It worked flawlessly. We both got our haircuts. They had no idea they were talking to AI.

 My five-year-old son asked for my phone so he could "use AI to make a game." He also talks to ChatGPT to come up with creative stories — getting genuinely excited as the story takes shape based on what he told it to do. He's not consuming content. He's creating with a collaborator that responds to his imagination.

 Think about that. My car drives itself. My AI assistant books my appointments. And my five-year-old already sees AI as a tool for creating things. Not something scary. Not something abstract. Just … the way you make stuff now.

 And his dad? I'm being chauffeured around by software while I think about what to build next.

 That's when I realized: we're not just living through a technology shift. We're living through a generational shift in how humans think about building things — and living.

 My generation had to unlearn the old way. My son's generation will never know it.

The Bet We're Making

 So here's the bet we're making at Cargado in 2026:

 We're betting that 40 people with AI can beat 250 people without it.

 We're betting that structured data infrastructure beats conversational wrappers.

 We're betting that companies willing to sprint at this technology now — while it's uncomfortable — will build compounding advantages.

 We're betting that the founders who see this moment for what it is will build the next generation of generational companies.

 And we're betting that AI doesn't diminish the role of great builders — it amplifies them.

Are You Building or Getting Built Around?

 The question isn't whether AI will change how companies get built. It already has.

 The question is: are you building with it or getting built around?

 At Cargado, we're not waiting to see how this plays out. We're not forming committees. We're not debating whether this is real.

 We're building. We're shipping. We're sprinting.

 Because I genuinely believe: this is the greatest time in history to be a builder.

 The leverage is real. The tools are here. The window is open.

 Let's build something incredible.


---

## Stop Being a Basic Brokerage

**Published:** 2026-02-05  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/stop-being-a-basic-brokerage

*Technology is how you survive. Expanding into niches is how you become impossible to replace.*


I have the honor of working with well over 200 logistics companies across North America. I spend my days talking with leaders across the spectrum: Mexico leaders at the largest brokerages, owners of some of the top Canadian logistics companies, and startup brokerages run by founders who share my obsession with cross-border freight.

 Everyone has a different perspective on how to move their company forward in 2026.

 But after hundreds of these conversations, I keep coming back to the same two truths:

If you're not investing in modern technology, you're already falling behind. This isn't about being "digital" — it's about whether your team is buried in manual work or freed up to actually grow the business.

Technology alone won't make you dynamic. The brokerages that are pulling away from the pack are the ones using that foundation to expand into areas most brokers avoid — Mexico, Canada, open deck — becoming more valuable to their customers with every capability they add.

 This post is both a wake-up call and a playbook.

 The wake-up call: the window to modernize is closing. The playbook: here's how to use that foundation to become a more dynamic, multi-dimensional brokerage.

The Wake-Up Call: Technology Is No Longer Optional

 The phrase "digital freight brokerage" is dead. I'm calling time of death.

 Everyone is digital now. That's not a differentiator — it's table stakes.

 But here's what I'm still seeing: teams who are "digital" on paper but still drowning in manual work. They have a modern TMS. They're on the load boards. But their people are still:

 Manually pricing loads and building quotes

 Rekeying data between systems

 Refreshing load boards and chasing capacity

 Making check calls instead of building relationships

 That's not modern. That's just digital window dressing on the same old grind.

 Meanwhile, the brokerages that are actually investing in technology as a scaling engine look completely different:

 Pricing and posting are automated

 Systems talk to each other without rekeying

 AI and marketplace tools expand coverage without expanding headcount

 Their people focus on relationships, strategy, and complex problem-solving

 This is how you scale. Not by hiring more people to do manual work. By removing the manual work and repositioning your people to have a much larger impact.

 I still know teams who just moved off AS400. Black screens with green text. If that's you, the gap between where you are and where the market is heading is getting wider every quarter.

 The wake-up call is simple: if you're not actively investing in technology that frees your team from commodity work, you're going to struggle to keep up.

The Opportunity: There Are Riches in the Niches

 Here's the thing about technology: it's necessary but not sufficient.

 If you automate everything and then keep doing the same generic dry van work on the same generic lanes, you're still a one-dimensional brokerage. You've just become a more efficient one-dimensional brokerage.

 The real opportunity comes when you use that foundation to expand into the freight that most brokers avoid.

 Mexico. Canada. Open deck. The niches that get written off as "too complex" or "too risky."

 That complexity is exactly why there's margin in it. And more importantly — every niche you add makes you more valuable to your customers and harder to replace.

Why Expanding Into Niches Works

 A one-dimensional brokerage is easy to commoditize. You do dry van. So does everyone else. Price becomes the only differentiator.

 A dynamic brokerage is different. When you can handle a customer's domestic freight and their Mexico moves and their open deck projects, you're not a vendor anymore. You're embedded in their operation.

 Here's what happens when you start adding capabilities:

You become the default for more of their freight.

 "Anything cross-border? Call them."

 "Anything odd-shaped or project-based? Call them."

 "Actually, just call them for everything."

You get pulled into adjacent opportunities.

 Once you prove you can handle the hard stuff, customers are way more comfortable giving you more of the routine stuff too.

You're exponentially harder to replace.

 Another broker can always undercut you on a single lane. It's much harder to rip you out when you're handling five different types of freight across three countries.

 Every niche you expand into gives your existing customers more reasons to consolidate with you. And when you talk to new prospects, it gives them more reasons to say yes — because you're not just another broker asking for "a shot."

The Niches That Matter Right Now

Mexico and Canada. Nearshoring is not a headline — it's a structural change. Manufacturers are moving production into Mexico, adding plants across Canada, building DCs around Laredo. Every one of those moves creates cross-border friction. If you're the broker who actually understands how freight flows through the gateways, where capacity wants to be, and what Carta Porte means for day-to-day operations — you become essential, not optional.

Open deck. More complex. More operationally demanding. Permits, escorts, route planning, site constraints. Which is exactly why most one-dimensional brokers avoid it. If your team leans in and builds real capability here, you unlock project freight, capex moves, and a whole category of business that your competitors won't touch.

 Most brokerages think of this freight as "too hard." That's exactly why there's opportunity for the ones willing to expand.

No One Likes a Basic Broker

 Let's get the snark out of the way:

No one likes a basic broker.

 A basic broker in 2026:

 Lives almost entirely on the spot market

 Sells "we care more and give good service" like that's still unique

 Has no clear point of view on any freight vertical, region, or mode

 Avoids cross-border because it's "too complex"

 Treats open deck like radioactive material

 Blames "the market" for everything instead of changing their approach

 If your entire positioning is, "We're a relationship-driven brokerage that communicates well and really cares about our customers" — cool.

 You've just described 90% of the industry.

 Basic is a mindset:

 Reactive instead of proactive

 One-dimensional instead of dynamic

 Scared of complexity instead of running toward it

 The dynamic brokerage says:

"Give us the hard stuff — Mexico, Canada, open deck. We're building capabilities there because that's where we can actually make a difference."

 That mindset shift completely changes how your customers see you and why new prospects say yes.

The Playbook: How to Actually Do This

 Knowing that technology is required and niches are the opportunity is one thing. Actually building a more dynamic brokerage is another.

 Here's how I'd approach it.

Step 1: Stop Drowning in Manual Work

 Before you can expand into new areas, you need capacity. Not truck capacity — people capacity.

 Look at where your team spends time today. Every hour spent manually pricing, rekeying, posting, and chasing is an hour not spent on building new capabilities or deepening customer relationships.

 The goal is to automate the commodity work:

 TMS integrations that eliminate rekeying

 Marketplace tools that automate posting and matching

 Pricing engines that give you confidence without manual research

 Visibility tools that reduce check calls

 You don't need to solve everything at once. Pick the biggest time sink and fix it first. Then move to the next one.

 This isn't about buying shiny tools. It's about buying back your team's time so you can redeploy it toward growth.

Step 2: Identify Your Expansion Opportunities

 Look at your current customer base. Where are they already asking for help that you're saying no to?

 Do they have Mexico or Canada freight you're passing on?

 Are there open deck or specialized moves you're referring out?

 What freight are they giving to other brokers that you could handle if you built the capability?

 Those are your expansion opportunities. You don't need to go find new customers — you need to become more valuable to the ones you already have.

Step 3: Start With One New Capability

 You don't need to become a full-service cross-border and open deck shop overnight.

 Pick one area to expand into first:

 If your customers have Mexico freight, start there

 If they're doing Canada moves, build that muscle

 If there's project freight you've been avoiding, lean in

 Assign an internal owner. Find the right partners and platforms to accelerate your learning. Start with one lane, one customer, one use case.

 The big mistake is waiting until you feel "ready." You will never feel ready. You need a customer willing to work with you, and partners who can fill the gaps while you learn. The rest you figure out in motion.

Step 4: Let Your Expanded Capabilities Drive Prospecting

 Once you've built real capability in a new area, your prospecting changes.

 Instead of:

"We're a relationship-driven brokerage that provides excellent service. Can we get 15 minutes?"

 It becomes:

"I saw you're ramping production out of Monterrey and pushing freight into the Midwest. Most teams underestimate how messy cross-border gets at that volume. We've built real capability there — want to see what we're seeing on capacity and risk right now?"

 One sounds like every other broker. The other sounds like someone who's built something specific and valuable.

Step 5: Keep Expanding

 The goal isn't to add one capability and stop. It's to keep becoming more dynamic.

 Every new area you expand into makes you harder to replace and more valuable to your customers. Mexico today. Canada next quarter. Open deck after that.

 The most valuable brokerages in 2026 won't be the ones who picked one niche and went deep. They'll be the ones who kept expanding their capabilities until they became indispensable.

The Brokerages I'd Bet On

 After everything I just said, you might think I'm bearish on brokerages.

 It's actually the opposite.

 There's a wave of modern technology pouring into freight: AI-driven pricing, better visibility, smarter TMS platforms, marketplaces that actually understand cross-border nuance.

 The brokerages that lean into those tools — not as shiny toys, but as infrastructure that frees them to expand — are going to separate themselves quickly.

 We're going to see M&A pick up as legacy brokerages decide they're done. And we're going to see a group of operators use this moment to build extremely dynamic, multi-dimensional businesses.

 Not because they yelled the loudest about being "digital." Because they built the foundation to scale — and then kept expanding into areas where others stayed one-dimensional.

The Bottom Line

 If there's a theme for 2026, it's this:

Technology is how you survive. Expanding into niches is how you become impossible to replace.

 Build the tech infrastructure that removes manual work

 Expand into Mexico, Canada, open deck — the areas basic brokers avoid

 Become more valuable to your existing customers before chasing new ones

 Keep adding capabilities until you're indispensable

 The one-dimensional broker will keep refreshing load boards, complaining about rates, and blaming the market.

 The dynamic brokerage will keep expanding — picking up new capabilities, new freight types, new geographies — until their customers can't imagine working with anyone else.

 It's 2026.

 Time to stop being basic.

 It's time to get Cargado if you aren't using it today. Your competition sure is.

 Stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics and freight tech by subscribing at CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com.


---

## The Age of Builders and Doers

**Published:** 2026-01-12  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/the-age-of-builders-and-doers

*How a small group of operators, plugged into AI agents and modern tools, can tap into effectively unlimited scale.*


I’ve spent a lot of time over the last few weeks thinking about what this year is going to look like — and more broadly, how companies are going to be built from here on out.

 If you zoom out and ignore the headlines for a second, there’s a pretty simple pattern emerging underneath all the noise:

We’re entering the age of builders and doers.

 The companies that win over the next decade won’t be the ones that stack up the biggest headcount, the most layers of management, or the fanciest org charts.

 They’ll be the ones where a relatively small group of people operates with the impact of a much larger company because they know how to do three things:

 See clearly what needs to exist.

 Build it themselves (or with a tiny crew).

 Use AI and automation as a multiplier, not a buzzword.

 If you’re a founder, operator, or aspiring leader, this shift should feel both a little terrifying and extremely exciting.

 Let me explain.

The Old Playbook: Headcount as Strategy

 For a long time, the mental model for building a company looked something like this:

 Raise money.

 Use that money to hire people.

 Promote your “best” individual contributors into managers.

 Layer more managers on top of managers as you grow.

 Build big departments around functions: Sales, Ops, Marketing, Product, etc.

 If you were a founder, success often got measured (quietly) in headcount.

 “I run a 40-person sales org.”

 “We’ve got 25 people in operations.”

 “We doubled the team this year.”

 I ran into someone at the Bears game this weekend who’s running a company with hundreds of employees. The thought of building something that large, from a people perspective, was honestly daunting. My gut reaction was, “Oh man, my goal is to keep our team as small as possible and just make sure everyone has tools that 10–100x their impact.”

 Headcount was a proxy for progress.

 This model made sense when:

 Tools were primitive. A lot of work was truly manual.

 Data was hard to access. Answering basic questions required whole teams.

 Internal systems were brittle. “Don’t touch that spreadsheet, it might break.”

 The coordination cost of getting things done was high.

 If you wanted to build a new function, the assumption was: “We need to staff it.”

 You’d hire a manager, then a few ICs, then a manager over those managers, and so on. If you wanted to “be a leader,” that often meant getting out of the work and into managing the work.

 Today, that model is breaking.

What’s Changed: The Human Possibility Frontier

 When people talk about AI, they usually frame it as a question of replacement.

 “Will it replace SDRs?”

 “Will it replace copywriters?”

 “Will it replace data analysts?”

 I think that’s the wrong frame.

 A more accurate question is: What does one motivated person now have the capacity to do when they’re plugged into tools like Notion Agents, Claude, ChatGPT, Nano Banana — and effectively have access to unlimited scale?

 Because that’s what has changed most dramatically in the last 12–18 months.

A concrete example

 In the last few weeks alone, I’ve used AI tools like Notion AI and Claude Code to:

 Pull together a customer intelligence database that previously would’ve taken a team weeks.

 Build and compare multiple pricing and compensation models.

 Map customer and prospect locations to plan travel and coverage strategy.

 Create analytical deep dives into coverage gaps in lanes, regions, or customer segments.

 Set OKR baselines from messy historical data.

 I didn’t magically become a full-stack engineer or a data scientist. I didn’t learn to write production-level code.

 What changed is:

 The tools are finally good enough.

 The interfaces are finally usable.

 And I stopped accepting “that would be nice to have, but we don’t have the bandwidth” as an answer.

 All of the tasks above would’ve historically required a chain of events:

 Scoping a project.

 Getting on the product or data team’s roadmap.

 Waiting for someone to write scripts, build dashboards, update data pipelines.

 Now, a founder who is willing to get their hands dirty and learn a new workflow can accomplish a lot of this in a few focused sessions.

 This is happening everywhere:

 Sales leaders building their own custom reporting or qualification workflows.

 Ops leaders automating onboarding, billing, and fulfillment steps without asking for engineering time.

 Founders prototyping new internal tools or even product features themselves before a single ticket gets filed.

The frontier of “what’s humanly possible for one person” has moved.

 And we’re still underestimating how far.

From Function Leaders to Function Builders

 In the old world, you hired “function leaders” to run departments.

 Their job was to:

 Set strategy.

 Define org charts.

 Hire and manage teams.

 Put processes in place and make sure people followed them.

 In the new world, I think that role gets replaced by function builders.

 What’s the difference?

 A function builder is someone who:

 Looks at a blank page and can design how a function should work.

 Gets in the weeds to build the first version — systems, workflows, tooling, documentation.

 Uses AI and automation as default ingredients, not optional add-ons.

 Operates with a builder’s mindset even if their title says “Head of X” or “VP of Y.”

 They might still manage people. They might still have a leadership title. But their primary value is not how many direct reports they have. It’s their ability to create and own a working system.

 This is a very different skillset than “I can run a 50-person team.”

 If you’re hiring, the questions start to change:

 Not: “Have you managed a large team before?”

 But: “Have you ever built a function from scratch and made it work?”

 Not: “How many people did you oversee?”

 But: “What systems did you design? What workflows did you implement? What did you personally build?”

 And if you’re an individual contributor or mid-level manager trying to grow your career, your playbook should change too.

 Instead of optimizing for, “How do I get more people reporting to me?” you want to optimize for, “How do I become the person who can build and run an entire function with a small team and the right tools?”

Operators With Agency

 There’s a particular kind of person who thrives in this environment. I think of them as operators with agency.

 You probably know a few of these people already. They’re the ones who:

 Don’t wait to be told what to do.

 See the gaps and quietly build the systems to close them.

 Learn adjacent skills without making a big deal out of it.

 Volunteer to own messy, unscoped problems and bring order to them.

 If they run customer success, they’re not just responding to tickets — they’re designing the onboarding journey, automating repetitive touchpoints, and building health score systems.

 If they run sales, they’re not just managing pipeline — they’re building a repeatable motion, instrumenting data, and automating the mind-numbing admin work.

 If they run people ops, they’re not just scheduling reviews and onboarding new hires — they’re building the internal infrastructure that keeps the whole company running smoothly.

 They’re builders disguised as “leaders” or “ICs.”

 And when you pair people like this with modern tools — especially AI-native tools — they become unfair advantages.

Small Team, Big Impact

 At Cargado, we’re deliberately not trying to build a 250-person company right now.

 Our ambition is big. The market is massive. The problems we’re chasing are real and complex.

 But structurally, we’re aiming for something different:

A team of fewer than 40 people that operates with the impact of 250.

 That’s not a cute slogan. It’s a design principle.

 What makes that feasible?

1. The right people

 You can’t fake this with slogans on the wall.

 You need people who are:

 Comfortable owning outcomes, not just tasks.

 Willing to learn new tools and workflows, even if it means being bad at them for a bit.

 Motivated by building, not just maintaining.

 Frustrated by unnecessary bureaucracy.

 These are not always the people who look best on paper. A lot of them never had the “SVP” title. Many have punchy, nonlinear careers. But they’re the ones who can 10x your surface area when you put the right systems around them.

2. An AI-native mindset

 There’s a big difference between:

 “We use AI to write a few emails here and there,” and

 “We’re building our company on an AI foundation.”

 When I say “AI-native,” I mean:

 You assume any repetitive or predictable workflow can be automated or assisted.

 You design your data and systems so that agents can actually do high-quality work.

 You expect people to use AI to extend their skillset, not replace their judgment.

 We’ve built dozens of internal agents that do everything from enriching data to posting updates to coaching calls. They’re not perfect. A lot of them are v1s. But they move the floor up for what any one person can get done — especially when you pair them with tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and Nano Banana that give individual operators access to almost unlimited scale.

3. A bias for shipping tools, not just writing docs

 Documentation is important. So is alignment. But in my experience, the fastest way to change how people work is to hand them a real tool that makes their life easier.

 A script that turns a 45-minute manual task into a 3-minute check.

 A workflow that automatically routes and enriches data instead of asking humans to do it.

 A dashboard that surfaces the right questions so humans can focus on judgment, not retrieval.

 When people can feel the time they’re getting back, they’re much more willing to lean into the change.

What This Means for Founders and Leaders

 If you’re building or leading a company right now, I think there are a few uncomfortable but necessary questions to ask.

1. Are you hiring builders or administrators?

 Look at your leadership team and your hiring pipeline.

 How many people are there because they’re great at designing and building systems?

 And how many are there because they’re good at managing existing ones?

 You still need some of the latter, especially in regulated or complex environments. But if you skew too far in that direction, you end up with beautifully managed stagnation.

 You want a bench of people who can:

 Take a blank page and sketch the function.

 Build the first draft of the system.

 Iterate in the real world.

2. Where are you still solving problems with headcount?

 When something isn’t working, the reflexive answer is often, “We need more people.”

 Sometimes that’s true. More often, it’s a sign that you haven’t really redesigned the work.

 Before you post the job description, ask:

 Could a better system or workflow solve 80% of this?

 Could an internal tool or agent handle the repetitive parts?

 Is the real problem clarity, not capacity?

 Headcount should be the last lever you pull, not the first.

3. Are you acting like AI is a side project?

 A lot of companies have “AI initiatives” right now.

 A tiger team.

 A few experiments.

 A slide in the board deck.

 But if the core rhythm of the company hasn’t changed — if the way sales works, the way ops works, the way product works all look mostly the same — you probably haven’t internalized what’s possible yet.

 You don’t need a 200-page AI strategy doc. You need to change how work actually gets done on Tuesday afternoon.

 That usually starts small:

 One workflow that goes from manual to automated.

 One team that adopts agents as core tools.

 One leader who starts building instead of waiting.

 Once people see the step-function change in their own jobs, it becomes much easier to layer bigger changes on top.

What This Means for You (As an Individual)

 Let’s zoom back down from “company strategy” to you — the person reading this.

 If you strip away the noise, the opportunity is pretty wild:

A motivated individual who leans into this shift can operate at a level that used to require a full supporting cast.

 You don’t have to wait for your company to “get its AI strategy together” to benefit from this. You can start with your own work.

Some practical starting points

Map your work into three buckets:

 Pure judgment (shouldn’t be automated).

 Pattern-driven but complex (great for AI assistance).

 Repetitive, rules-based tasks (should be automated yesterday).

Pick one annoying repetitive task and automate it.It might be:

 Weekly reporting.

 Cleaning up data from one system before loading into another.

 Generating the first draft of emails or docs you write over and over.

Learn enough about the tools to be dangerous.Not just chat interfaces. Learn:

 How to connect them to your data.

 How to call APIs or use no-code automation tools.

 How to create simple agents that work on your behalf.

Redesign one small “function” in your world.That might be:

 How your team onboards new customers.

 How you qualify and route inbound leads.

 How you collect, store, and use customer feedback.

 Treat it like a product. Design it. Build v1. Ship it. Iterate.

 You’ll learn more about your own value and potential from that one project than from another year of status meetings.

The Emotional Side: Letting Go of Old Status Markers

 There’s a quieter, more emotional dimension to all of this that’s worth naming.

 For a long time, we’ve associated “success” with:

 Bigger teams.

 Fancier titles.

 More direct reports.

 Owning a big chunk of the org chart.

 When you start talking about small teams doing more with AI and automation, it can feel threatening. “If the company doesn’t need a 40-person team, where does that leave me?”

 I get that.

 I’ve had to unlearn some of those status markers myself. I’ve also seen what happens when leaders cling to the old markers and resist the new reality.

 Here’s how I’m trying to frame it for myself:

 Status based on org chart size is fragile. It’s dependent on budgets, markets, and investor sentiment.

 Status based on your ability to build and operate systems that work is much more durable.

 If you become the person who can:

 Take a fuzzy problem and turn it into a working function.

 Blend human judgment with AI and automation effectively.

 Increase the surface area and speed of your team without burning them out.

 You will not lack for opportunity.

 It might look different than the old “rise through the ranks and get a VP title at 32” story. But it will be more resilient, more interesting, and, in my opinion, more fun.

Where We Go From Here

 I don’t think AI is a temporary productivity blip. I think it’s one of the most consequential technologies the world has ever seen.

 Not because it will replace everyone overnight, but because it fundamentally changes what small, highly aligned groups of people can do.

 The companies that treat it as a side project will get some efficiency gains and maybe a nice case study.

 The companies that treat it as the foundation for how they operate will:

 Ship faster.

 Learn faster.

 Serve customers better.

 Require less bureaucracy to coordinate.

 They’ll look “smaller” on LinkedIn and much bigger in every way that matters.

 This year, my personal focus — and our focus at Cargado — is to lean all the way into this reality:

 To keep hiring builders and operators with agency.

 To keep simplifying instead of adding layers.

 To keep redesigning work so that small teams can do what used to take an army.

 If any of this resonates, here are two questions I’d leave you with:

Where are you still defaulting to headcount as the answer?

What function in your world could you rebuild from scratch today, knowing what’s now possible with AI and automation?

 Because in the age of builders and doers, the real competitive advantage isn’t how many people you have.

 It’s how much a small number of the right people can get done when they’re connected to tools that give them effectively unlimited scale.

 Subscribe now


---

## Good, Better, Best

**Published:** 2025-12-29  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/good-better-best

*Never let it rest! Until your good gets better and your better gets best!*


The Bears have been on a tear this season. Ben Johnson has Chicago fired up behind “Good, Better, Best!” We’ve brought that phrase into Cargado’s culture — half our company is in Chicago and we’re all riding this run, even with a heartbreaking loss last night to the 49ers.

 Everyone is posting their 2025 Year in Review. Even ChatGPT gives you a Wrapped summary now. A year-in-review for a startup in Year 2 feels weird. So I’m skipping it.

 Let me share what’s changed over the year and what we’ve learned building Cargado.

Technology is dramatically different than it was six months ago.

 AI has completely transformed the world, whether everyone realizes it yet or not. It can 10x, maybe even 100x, the strongest performers if they lean into it. Whether it’s improving your writing, accelerating content creation, writing code, or building prototypes in apps like Lovable - we’re in a different world now.

 I got early access to Notion’s new Agents about a week ago. I’ll admit — I hated Notion until a few months ago when the structure finally unlocked for me. The way Notion AI and Agents can access centralized knowledge across our entire company is a game-changer. Ivan Zhao recently wrote about how Notion has 1,000 employees and 700 agents deployed. I’ve built 15 agents in the past week. It’s like having a bunch of really smart junior employees who know everything across Notion, Slack, and email.

 The way companies are built is evolving right now. How Cargado will look in 2026 will be different than how it looked for most of 2025. How we execute internally will continue to evolve as our team learns to use Claude and ChatGPT, as we build workflow automation that lets our business scale to the impact of a 250-person org with less than 40 people.

 Company building will be done with people who can harness this technology and use it to do several jobs at once. A marketing department should never need 15-20 people, regardless of company size or funding. A great marketing function includes the right system architecture, incredible prompts, and a strong understanding of how powerful AI tools can be.

 Our sales motion is scaling through technology. We have three incredible sellers right now. We may add a couple to cover new markets, but I don’t feel like we need a sales org with tons of SDRs and regional sellers. You need an incredible outbound engine built with the right infrastructure to rapidly scale how you reach prospects and the stories you tell them. This all ties together — marketing and a modern GTM engine.

Our pricing model changed dramatically throughout the year.

 We started with simple seat-based pricing. That’s how other products in the market are sold today. While it made sense initially because people could equate a dollar amount to individual access, it was clear seat-based pricing wouldn’t scale. The ideal scenario is paying for what you use. If six people use the same amount as one power user, you should be charged fairly.

 We shifted to usage-based pricing. Customers got unlimited seats but paid for marketplace postings and rate lookups. While this seemed more logical and fair, unlocking the seat limitations, we heard customers talk about holding back. They were posting only their most critical freight to avoid using up their postings. They were experimenting with Mexico business and weren’t ready to go all in on a marketplace when every input wasn’t guaranteed to result in the outcome they wanted. Tools like Claude are consumption-based because every time you ask it to do something, it does exactly that. It’s a utility. A marketplace is a path for coverage, but it’s not guaranteed yet. People tried to balance value with cost.

 This feedback led to our latest pricing iteration. We still use these usage amounts we modeled out, but we’ve moved customers to tiered unlimited plans. They can post and quote as much as they want across Mexico and Canada. They can add everyone in their company. Based on their usage over the next year, they’ll land in a new pricing tier that’s fair for both sides. I’ve never loved this model because it’s less formulaic for the end user, but it gives business leaders a clear budget number rather than worrying about overage.

Our product has evolved, a ton.

 We started the year as a load board for cross-border Mexico freight. We’ll end 2025 as the only modern marketplace built for Mexico and Canada freight, with a robust market rates tool built on all the data generated by our marketplace activity. We have a true pulse on the market based on carrier bids we collect. Our product enables brokers to understand the true range of cost for a lane. Not just what someone spent weeks or months ago — what all the carriers are asking for right now. A true pulse of the market.

 When we started building Cargado, the first thing our engineering team did was map out how our platform would be architected. We mapped out how we would store data and why it was important to structure it. Everything you could want to know about pricing or moving a load lives in a structured format, just like most systems brokers use across the industry. It keeps things clean in a messy industry. Historically, most systems have only housed the most basic data points. Origin, destination, buyer, seller, a block of notes people tend to fill with the same garbage instructions everyone already knows (like trailers being clean).

 There’s a craze right now in logistics to apply AI agents — especially voice agents — to solving all of freight’s problems. A lot of capital has been raised across startups working to bring AI to freight. They’re taking different approaches, but they all sit at a similar cross-section, applying AI as a bandaid over old systems. Whether it’s supporting a flood of inbound calls from legacy load boards, cold calling carriers off lists to book freight, or crawling legacy TMSs in search of data and making life easier for freight operators.

 But there’s a battle ensuing. Does this industry need more bandaids on old systems or do we need new systems? Mexico freight has long existed mainly in spreadsheets and WhatsApp, with a side of LinkedIn for coverage support. Rather than building tools that sit on top of those systems, we’re building tools to replace them. Brokerage operators should not be living in Excel and WhatsApp. They deserve a system built for their needs, structured to understand how freight moves. It’s not just about filling up Notion pages with context so agents know what to do in different scenarios. The ability to flex between structured and unstructured data is what will differentiate the true difference-makers in this industry.

2026 is going to be a big year for Cargado.

 We’re working on our 2026 forecast right now. The plan currently calls for 3-5 hires. Almost all those hires are people who can build and operate without needing a lot of guidance. Building at a startup means BUILDING. You roll up your sleeves and start digging in until you solve a problem, then you move onto the next problem. We’ve already seen several people who came from long careers in freight now spending all day in Claude, ChatGPT, Notion, and VAPI (👀). I hope to continue converting more people inside Cargado into operators with agency — people who can just go and build without needing a ton of guidance.

 We have a lot of customers asking for a lot from our product and our team. We only launched our first product in April 2024 and the whole world has changed since then. What we never thought was possible, or what we thought might take six weeks, now could take six hours or six days with the right technology supporting the work. Our company, team, and product will continue to evolve as the world evolves.

Good, Better, Best.

 That’s the mindset we’ve brought into Cargado from the Bears’ season. We’re always pushing to improve. Good isn’t good enough when better is possible. Better isn’t the goal when best is within reach.

 What’s different now is the timeline. The AI tools available today — Claude, ChatGPT, Notion Agents, voice agents — are compressing the distance between good and best. What used to take quarters now takes weeks. What used to require hiring five people now takes one person with the right prompts and infrastructure.

 We’re not settling for incremental improvement. We’re using every tool available to accelerate our path to best. That’s how we’ll win in 2026.

 Subscribe now


---

## Mexico Freight Is Hiding in Your Book — 3 Ways to Find It

**Published:** 2025-12-17  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/mexico-freight-is-hiding-in-your

*Your customers already have Mexico freight. You just haven't asked yet.*


I just wrapped up two Mexico 101 webinars, and the turnout blew me away. Almost 90 people showed up to the first one. The questions were sharp.

 One attendee asked, “Why would a shipper use a broker for Mexico when they could build an in-house team?” Another pushed on security concerns. Someone else wanted to know how to pitch door-to-door freight to customers who are currently transloading at the border. These are exactly the questions you should be asking.

 What stood out wasn’t the complexity — it was how ready brokers are to lean in. They’re not afraid of Mexico freight. They’re afraid of what they don’t know.

 Here’s the truth: Mexico freight isn’t some distant opportunity you need to chase. It’s already sitting in your book. You just need to know where to look — and have the confidence to go after it.

1. Scan Your Book for Border City Activity

 Here’s the prospecting hack no one talks about: look at where your customers are already shipping domestically.

 Pull any loads moving to or from Laredo, El Paso, Pharr, Nogales, or Calexico. These are the major crossing points — and if freight is touching them, there’s a good chance the full cross-border lane is available.

 “Hey, I noticed you ship to Laredo a lot — are you working with anyone for freight into Mexico?” That’s your entry point.

 Even better: look for border forwarders or warehouses in your customer base. Many shippers are transloading at the border when they could be running door-to-door. That conversion alone can save them $125–$250 per load in transload fees — and it’s a conversation worth having.

 One question that came up in the webinar: “How do you introduce a customer to the possibility of door-to-door freight instead of what they’re currently doing?” The answer is simple — lead with cost savings and visibility. When they transload, they lose control. When they run door-to-door, they know exactly when freight is picking up, crossing, and delivering. That control is worth money to them.

 Nearshoring has made this even more relevant. Manufacturers are moving production to Mexico at an explosive rate. If you’re handling domestic freight for companies in automotive, electronics, machinery, or food — they probably have Mexico needs. You just haven’t asked.

2. Walk a Store and Read Labels

 This one sounds simple, but it works.

 Walk through a grocery store, Home Depot, or any big-box retailer and look for “Hecho en México” on the packaging. Appliances, furniture, produce, auto parts, building materials — a massive amount of what we buy comes from Mexico.

 Now trace it back. Who’s the supplier? Who’s the importer? Those are your prospects.

 You’re not cold-calling random Mexican companies with Google Translate. You’re targeting U.S. businesses with Mexico supply chains who already understand the value of cross-border freight. These are companies that have freight moving right now — freight that’s stickier and outside the RFP cycle.

 During one of the webinars, someone asked about open-deck safety for equipment moves. It’s a fair question — and the answer is that security on open-deck depends heavily on the carrier and the lane. CTPAT-certified carriers, proper securement, and knowing your routes matter more than the trailer type. The point is: the freight is there, and it’s valuable.

3. Target the Right Industries

 Not all Mexico freight is created equal. The stickiest lanes tend to come from a handful of industries:

Automotive — Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers feeding OEM plants. Think parts flowing from Monterrey and Saltillo to assembly plants in the Midwest. Production schedules are tight, and reliability wins over price.

Retail & Distribution — Home Depot, Walmart, and their vendor networks. These companies are pulling product from Mexican suppliers into U.S. distribution centers. Volume is consistent, and they’re used to working with brokers.

Appliances & Furniture — Heavy nearshoring activity here. If you’ve bought a refrigerator or a couch in the past few years, there’s a decent chance it came from Mexico.

Food & Beverage — Produce, packaged goods, ingredients. The cold chain adds complexity, but the volume is consistent.

Industrial & Construction — Raw materials, components, heavy equipment. These moves often require specialized trailers and reliable service.

 These industries have consistent volume, tight service requirements, and a willingness to pay for reliability.

4. Know Enough to Be Dangerous — Not an Expert

 The number one thing I heard in these webinars: “I don’t know enough about how it works.”

 Fair. But here’s the thing — you don’t need to be a customs expert. You need to understand the basics well enough to have a conversation.

 Here’s what you actually need to know:

Cross-border freight involves multiple handoffs. A U.S. carrier takes it to the border. A transfer (dray) carrier moves the trailer across. A Mexican carrier delivers to the final destination. For northbound freight, it’s the reverse. This isn’t complicated — it’s just different from domestic.

Customs clearance adds 1–3 days. Don’t promise domestic-style transit times. Build in the border stop and you’ll set realistic expectations. If you tell a customer it’s a 4-day transit and it takes 6, you’ve lost trust. If you tell them 5–6 days and you deliver in 5, you’re a hero.

Customs brokers do the hard work. Your job isn’t to know every HTS code or CBP requirement. It’s to make sure your customer has a customs broker and that you’re coordinating timing with them. Ask your customer to introduce you to their broker — don’t cold-email them.

 One of the sharpest questions from the webinar: “If we book a carrier that uses a transfer partner in Mexico, will we have visibility into that partner? I’m asking from a liability perspective.” Great question. The answer depends on the carrier and the platform. With Cargado, we show you the full chain — the U.S. carrier, the transfer, and the Mexican carrier. Visibility matters, especially when claims happen.

 When you can walk a customer through all of this, they trust you. Most shippers don’t know how Mexico freight moves either. When you explain it confidently, you win business.

5. Don’t Build the Network Yourself — Leverage One

 Here’s where Cargado comes in.

 The hardest part of cross-border used to be capacity. How do you find vetted Mexican carriers? How do you communicate across languages and time zones? How do you get real rates without waiting three days for a quote?

 That’s exactly what we built.

 Cargado gives you instant access to pre-vetted carriers on both sides of the border. You get instant rate guidance so you can quote quickly. You get a bilingual platform so you’re not chasing emails and WhatsApp messages across languages. And you get visibility into what’s happening at every stage — including inside Mexico, where most tracking tools go dark.

 During the webinar, someone asked how carrier vetting works. We vet carriers against multiple data sources, with a deep set of requirements and references required as well. All of it gets checked before a carrier can book a load.

 You don’t need to spend years building a Mexican carrier network. You need to say yes to your customer and post the load.

The Bigger Picture: Tariffs and Nearshoring

 One question that came up in both webinars: “What about tariffs and nearshoring?”

 The short answer — this is a tailwind, not a headwind.

 Look at the chart at the top of this post. In 2000, U.S. goods trade with China was nearly zero. Trade with Mexico and Canada sat around $600 billion. Fast forward to today: China trade has grown to roughly $600 billion — but North American trade has exploded to over $1.6 trillion. That’s a $1 trillion gap, and it’s only getting wider.

 The story is clear. While everyone was focused on China’s rise, North America quietly became the dominant trade relationship. And that trend is accelerating.

 With 4–8 day lead times from Mexico versus 2–4+ weeks from China, manufacturers are moving production closer. The pandemic exposed how fragile long supply chains are. Tariffs — existing and potential — make near-shore production more economically attractive. And USMCA (which replaced NAFTA) gives Mexico preferred trade status that China doesn’t have.

 That means more freight. More opportunity. And brokers who learn this now will dominate the next five years.

 Mexico isn’t a niche. It’s the #1 U.S. trade partner. The brokers who lean in now will be the ones with the expertise and relationships when everyone else catches up.

The Brokers Who Win Are the Ones Who Show Up

 The questions in these webinars told me something important: the brokers who are ready to learn are the ones who are going to grow.

 Mexico freight isn’t some specialty you need a whole team for. It’s a wedge into accounts you couldn’t touch before — outside the RFP cycle, with stickier revenue. One Mexico load often becomes a multi-lane, recurring relationship.

 If you missed the webinar, don’t worry — we’re running more. But don’t wait for another session to start.

 Look at your book first. The freight is already there.

Join the Next Mexico 101 Webinar

 Want to go deeper? I’m running more sessions where we break down everything — from quoting your first cross-border load to building a repeatable Mexico freight book. These are live, interactive, and built for brokers who want to actually move freight, not just learn theory.

Check the schedule and register at cargado.com/webinars.

See You in Laredo

 If you want to take your cross-border knowledge to the next level, join us at the Cross-Border Connector on February 17–18, 2026 in Laredo, Texas. It’s powered by Broker-Carrier Summit and Cargado — two days of networking, learning, and connecting with the people who move North American freight.

 This is where brokers, carriers, and shippers come together at the busiest land port in the Western Hemisphere. If you’re serious about Mexico freight, this is the room to be in.

Register for the Cross-Border Connector

 And if you’re ready to start moving freight today, get on Cargado. Your competition sure is.

Stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics and freight tech by subscribing at CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com.

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## Oh the shippers you'll find

**Published:** 2025-11-12  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/oh-the-shippers-youll-find

*Let's do a deep dive on the types of shippers out there.*


I’m writing this somewhere over the Great Lakes on my way to Montreal — home to BRP, the company behind Ski-Doo, Can-Am, and Sea-Doo.

 They’re the perfect example of why understanding who you’re calling matters. BRP designs in Canada, builds engines in Mexico, assembles in multiple regions, and ships finished products across the U.S. and Canada. One brand, dozens of factories, hundreds of suppliers, thousands of truckloads.

 This post isn’t just about how supply chains work — it’s about how to sell into them.

The Smarter You Get, the Easier It Gets to Sell

 Every new rep in freight starts out chasing logos — the big brands they recognize. But the real game isn’t about that one account.

 When you land a customer in any given industry, you instantly open the door to dozens more. You pick up from their suppliers. You deliver to their customers. You meet vendors, plants, DCs, importers, and distributors — and every single one of them is a potential customer too.

 The deeper you go into an industry, the smarter you get about it.The smarter you get, the more confident you feel selling into the entire ecosystem: the brands, their competitors, their suppliers, and their customers.

 That’s how the best reps never run out of leads.

 When I first started out in cross-border freight, I spent over three years living in San Diego focused on automotive battery freight. My boss back then was known in Laredo as “The Battery Queen.” I still know that network better than the back of my hand — every supplier, importer, and plant between Mexicali, Juárez, and the U.S. battery recycling hubs.Once you understand one niche like that, everything opens up. You start to recognize patterns — which suppliers feed which OEMs, which plants control the outbound, where the bottlenecks happen.

 The same logic applies to any industry. Go research every part that goes into a car. It’s endless. Every tire, seat, harness, sensor, and microchip has a manufacturer — and all of them ship daily. There are more tire brands alone than most brokers realize exist. Multiply that across every system in a vehicle, and you’ve got an infinite source of potential customers.

Two Buckets: Manufacturers and Retailers

 Every shipper you call fits into one of two categories:

Manufacturers – they make what they sell.

Retailers/Distributors – they sell what someone else made.

 If you know which bucket your prospect lives in, you’ll know how to talk to them, what matters most, and where to look for the next opportunity.

Manufacturers

 Manufacturers design, source, and build their own products.Their logistics priorities are about production continuity: no line-downs, no delays, no surprises.

 If you’re selling to a manufacturer, you’re selling uptime, predictability, and precision.

Automotive & Transportation

Industries: passenger vehicles, heavy trucks, farm & construction equipment, powersportsBrands: Honda, Volkswagen, Tesla, GM, Ford, John Deere, Caterpillar, BRP, Polaris

 Automotive freight never sleeps. It moves 24/7, every day of the year. The rhythm is constant — engines and transmissions northbound, parts and subassemblies southbound. It’s a living organism.

 If you’ve ever handled an automotive account, you know the pressure: missed delivery windows can stop a production line. JIT shipments, customs documents, bilingual dispatching — everything has to be exact.

 The smartest play isn’t chasing the OEM’s annual bid. Call their Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers instead — Magna, Lear, Bosch, Yazaki, Continental. They’re the ones shipping daily and they’ll actually answer the phone.

Industrial Machinery & Heavy Equipment

Industries: engines, hydraulics, power systems, mining and agriculture equipmentBrands: Caterpillar, Komatsu, CNH Industrial, Cummins, AGCO, Volvo Construction

 This freight is the heartbeat of heavy industry — massive, awkward, and mission-critical. Transmissions, castings, hydraulic systems, frames — all moving between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada.

 These customers aren’t impressed by sales buzzwords. They want to know you can get the load across the border cleanly, safely, and on time. Documentation precision and bilingual coordination win you the business — not a half-cent on rate.

Electronics & Technology

Industries: consumer electronics, computing, semiconductors, communicationsBrands: Apple, Samsung, LG, Dell, HP, Panasonic

 You know what’s worse than a late truck? A late launch. Electronics brands live on razor-thin production schedules. Their supply chains are built around speed and visibility — every shipment feeds a DC, a plant, or a product drop.

 If you can provide clean customs packets and real-time tracking, you’re not just a broker anymore — you’re part of their workflow.

Appliances & Consumer Hardware

Industries: household appliances, tools, home systemsBrands: Whirlpool, GE Appliances, Dyson, Electrolux, Stanley Black & Decker

 These shipments look simple on paper — until you’re managing 45,000 pounds of stainless steel refrigerators and plastic components across three border crossings. The stakes are high, and so are the damage claims if you miss the details.

 They remember who kept their freight moving through the chaos of seasonality and who didn’t. Reliability and communication are your entire brand here.

Food & Beverage Producers

Industries: fresh produce, packaged foods, protein, beveragesBrands: Dole, Chiquita, Tyson, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Conagra, General Mills

 These are manufacturers too — they grow or process what they sell. The difference is perishability. You’re dealing with shelf life, temperature control, and tight DC windows.

 When you prove you can run a reefer network that never misses a beat, you’re not just a carrier — you’re part of their food safety chain.

Aerospace & Defense

Industries: aircraft manufacturing, avionics, precision machiningBrands: Bombardier, Safran, Honeywell, Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney

 If automotive is about speed, aerospace is about accuracy. One missing form, one incorrect serial number, and your truck isn’t getting through customs.

 You won’t win with flash. You win with flawless execution and trust built over time.

Vertically Integrated Consumer Brands

Industries: outdoor, lifestyle, home, and direct-to-consumer productsBrands: Yeti, Weber, Traeger, Peloton, Hydro Flask, IKEA

 These companies blur the line between manufacturing and retail. They design and own their products but often outsource final assembly.

 They need the dependability of a manufacturer with the flexibility of a retailer. If you can speak both languages — precision and agility — they’ll listen.

Retailers & Distributors

 Retailers and distributors don’t make anything.They move finished products from vendors and manufacturers to stores, dealers, or customers.

 Their supply chains are demand-driven — built around replenishment, seasonality, and promotions.They care about availability, OTIF, and cost per case — not line-down prevention.

 If you’re calling on one of these, you’re selling consistency, communication, and calm under pressure.

Big-Box & General Merchandise

Brands: Walmart, Target, Costco, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Sam’s Club

 Big-box freight is volume at scale. Thousands of SKUs moving through distribution centers that never stop. Their world runs on compliance portals, appointment systems, and seasonal surges.

 If you can hit appointment windows, communicate early, and handle overflow when it rains (it always rains), you’ll keep getting calls.

Specialty Retail & Private-Label Stores

Brands: Harbor Freight, Ace Hardware, Tractor Supply, AutoZone, O’Reilly, Napa

 These retailers run like clockwork — until a promotion hits. Then everything breaks loose.

 Show that you can pivot, find last-minute capacity, and keep stores stocked during their busiest weeks. When you make them look good internally, you’ll get the next round of business automatically.

Grocery & Food Distribution

Brands: Kroger, Albertsons, H-E-B, Sysco, US Foods, C&S Wholesale

 The grocery world runs on tight delivery windows and zero tolerance for mistakes. You either make the appointment or you don’t.

 If you can master scheduling, temperature control, and proactive updates, you’ll win in this space. It’s not glamorous freight — but it’s loyal.

E-Commerce & Direct-to-Consumer

Brands: Amazon, Wayfair, Chewy, HelloFresh, Blue Apron, Shopify Brands

 The pace here is unmatched. Shipments change daily, routes shift hourly, and nobody cares about your excuses. They expect flexibility, real-time visibility, and consistent recovery.

 Be the calm in their chaos, and you’ll never have to sell them twice.

Wholesale & Dealer Distribution

Brands: Grainger, Fastenal, Ferguson, Genuine Parts Co., HD Supply

 These networks depend on repetition — same DCs, same dealers, same routes. They just want it to run smoothly. Communicate clearly, deliver reliably, and keep your promises. That’s it.

Where the Real Freight Lives

 You’re never just selling to one company.

 Every manufacturer depends on dozens of suppliers.Every retailer depends on hundreds of vendors.

 When you land one account, ask who they buy from and who they sell to.Pick up from their suppliers. Deliver to their customers.Each contact becomes another prospect.

 That’s how you turn one logo into an entire vertical.

Final Thought

 Every load you quote lives in one of two systems: production or replenishment.Manufacturers make the stuff. Retailers move it.

 When you understand which system your customer lives in, you’ll stop pitching generically and start selling intelligently.

 You’ll stop cold-calling blindly.You’ll start connecting dots.And you’ll finally see where freight really comes from.

 If you enjoyed this and want to get more deep dives like it, subscribe to CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com — where I write about freight, tech, nearshoring, and everything in between. Each issue breaks down what’s changing in logistics and what that means for people building and selling in it.

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---

## Building the future of freight collaboration

**Published:** 2025-11-06  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/building-the-future-of-freight-collaboration

*How we’re rethinking how brokers and carriers connect on Mexico and Canada freight.*


We started planning and designing Cargado two years ago this week. Rylan and I had been talking for weeks about how broken cross-border freight still was — the tools, the workflows, the communication. Before long, Steven, Jonathan, and Teagan joined as our founding engineers, and together we began refining designs in Figma — making adjustments on the fly and in between meetings as we shaped what a truly modern freight platform could look like.

 Before we wrote a single line of code, we took a trip to Laredo. We wanted to see the real thing — the brokers, the carriers, the border crossings, the chaos. Between conversations we stopped at Palenque Grill and later República, reviewing designs and feedback in real time. Those early iterations became the foundation of what Cargado is today.

The Marketplace: Our Starting Line

 We went live on a Thursday in early April 2024. The product was rough — barely out of alpha. We had a few brokers (three, to be exact) and about 200 carriers. That first day, a few loads got posted… but there were no carrier notifications yet, so nobody was bidding.

 I spent that weekend with a knot in my stomach — refreshing dashboards, double-checking code, calling carrier friends to plead with them to log in. By Monday, a few of them had, and that’s when things started to move. Loads were getting posted, carriers were bidding, brokers were matching. We started calling it the trifecta — postings, bids, and matches happening every hour.

 Today, we see 300 to 500 carrier bids every single day. That foundation — brokers posting and carriers submitting bids — became more than a workflow. It became a data engine.

From Matching Freight to Measuring the Market

 Those bids gave us something powerful: real-time visibility into what cross-border freight actually costs.

 That’s how Market Rates was born. It’s built entirely on live carrier bids — not guesses, not surveys, not stale quarterly averages.

 Now, brokers and carriers use Market Rates across multiple channels:

 Directly inside the Cargado UI

 Through an Excel Add-In

 Or via API, connected to their TMS or internal pricing tools

 They use it to set max-pay rules inside their TMS, benchmark current spend, spot-price freight intelligently, and even run entire RFPs.

 Market Rates turned raw data into structured intelligence. But the truth is, information alone doesn’t move freight. People do — and the way they communicate is still broken.

Geographic Expansion Strategy

 Over the past year, we’ve expanded into two new markets that we’re investing in deeply: Canada and domestic Mexico.

 Both bring unique complexity and opportunity.

 In Canada, we’re supporting bilingual communication, longer hauls, and trade flows that mirror what we’ve already built for Mexico ↔ U.S. freight.

 In Mexico, we’re helping brokers and carriers collaborate on domestic freight, using the same verified network and data-driven foundation that powers our cross-border business.

 Our strategy is simple: build a platform that creates a better experience for the logistics of North American trade — one that connects brokers and carriers across Mexico and Canada through modern tools, verified relationships, and structured communication.

 And as part of that, we’re already preparing to support domestic Canada freight and partial loads, further strengthening the collaboration layer that makes Cargado so different.

The Chaos Between the Bids

 If you’ve worked in freight, you already know what I mean.

 The industry is buried under:

 Endless emails that go nowhere

 WhatsApp threads with no context

 Group texts missing half the participants

 Phone calls that disappear into memory

 Spreadsheets trying to make sense of it all

 It’s exhausting. It’s also where fraud hides and accountability dies.

 Cross-border freight adds another layer: language barriers, time zones, regulatory differences. Everyone’s improvising through disconnected tools that were never meant for freight.

 That’s why we built Chat — not as another feature, but as the third pillar of the Cargado platform.

Introducing Chat

 Chat connects everything we’ve built so far — and fixes the communication gap that’s plagued this industry for decades.

 It’s not a generic messenger. It’s freight-first collaboration.

Verified ProfilesEvery user in Chat has a verified identity: company, role, language, and location. No spoofing, no fake carriers, no guessing. It makes every interaction more human — you can actually see who you’re working with.

Real-Time TranslationMessages translate instantly between English, Spanish, and French, so dispatchers and brokers between Monterrey, Chicago, and Montreal can talk naturally without losing time or nuance.

Organized by FreightEach posting, bid, or match automatically spins up its own thread. You can search by lane, load, or partner. Every message ties back to real freight.

AI-Aware ContextWhen someone drops a number, Chat recognizes it as a bid or counter and helps you act on it. The platform is being built by freight experts with freight knowledge deeply ingrained in every corner and throughout the conversation.

Personalized ConnectionProfiles bring familiarity. You can tag teammates, reconnect with trusted carriers, and see faces instead of phone numbers. It’s the digital version of shaking hands across borders.Cargado Chat already connects brokers to more than 1,500 carriers representing over 200,000 trucks and 450,000 trailers.

 Want to see what Chat looks like? Check it out here:

What People Are Saying

 When we started rolling Chat out to customers, the response was immediate — and loud.

“WhatsApp and email are chaos. Chat keeps everything organized and searchable.”

“It’s the best improvement from Cargado — hands down.”

“We were negotiating rates in WhatsApp. Now we do it in Chat. It’s faster, clearer, and actually trackable.”

 That’s all we needed to hear.

What We Actually Believe

 Most freight tech has tried to remove people from the process — automating every click, every call, every decision.

 That’s never been our philosophy.

 People should be building or managing relationships and solving problems — not entering data or haggling over rates or sending out blast emails or texts.

 Automation is valuable, but it should exist to support the human part of freight, not erase it.

 That’s what Chat does: it connects verified people, attaches structured data, and turns communication into something you can trust, reference, and build on.

A Collaboration Platform — Not a Load Board

 We started with a marketplace to connect brokers and carriers. We took the data from that activity and built a pricing product to help brokers win more freight, which feeds the marketplace flywheel. Now we’re launching Chat to make it a more human experience.

 Together, they form the foundation of a true collaboration platform for freight.

 Marketplace connects brokers and carriers.

 Market Rates provides shared visibility into real-time price.

 Chat gives them a place to communicate and act.

 It’s not automation for automation’s sake. It’s about connecting the people who move freight — and doing it in a way that’s traceable, multilingual, and secure.

Where We’re Headed

 We’re actively integrating with several major TMS providers to make Cargado data and workflows feel native inside the systems brokers already live in.

 That means more freight flowing through the Marketplace, more dynamic data powering Market Rates, and a smoother experience across the board.

 And as Chat expands, it’s going to open new ways for teams to collaborate — not just across borders, but across entire organizations.

 We want to eliminate the endless spreadsheets that dominate this industry and replace them with structured, connected communication.

 I won’t spoil what’s next, but it’s all in service of the same goal — make collaboration in freight simple, secure, and data-driven.

Looking Back — and Ahead

 That week in Laredo — balancing meetings, Palenque Grill fajitas, and late-night República debriefs — we had no idea how far this would go.

 Two years later, we’ve built a platform that’s powering hundreds of brokers and carriers across North America.

 The trifecta we celebrated in 2024 is now happening thousands of times per day.

 And this is still just the start.

 Freight will always come down to people — relationships, trust, communication.But those things deserve better infrastructure.That’s what we’re building: a connected, collaborative network where communication isn’t chaos and data doesn’t live in silos.

Marketplace. Market Rates. Chat.Three products — one mission.

 To build the future of freight collaboration.

Reach out to get access to Cargado Chat — it’s rolling out gradually to our customers across Mexico, the U.S., and Canada. You can get in line for early access at cargado.com.

Stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics and freight tech.Click the Subscribe Now button below for stories about building, scaling, and modernizing the future of North American freight.

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## Pouring one out for Canada

**Published:** 2025-11-03  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/pouring-one-out-for-canada

*Why brokers need to start thinking north while everyone else fights over U.S. freight*


Canada, you had our hearts this week — and then the Blue Jays broke them again. We were all rooting against the Dodgers, hoping the Jays might finally give Toronto something to smile about besides polite airport signage and Tim Hortons consistency. But no. Another early exit. So we pour one out for the Blue Jays… and maybe pour another for all the freight we’re about to send north to cheer ourselves up.

 But before we get there — how about those Chicago Bears?Five wins. Let me repeat that: five wins. It’s not exactly a Lombardi parade down Michigan Avenue, but it’s progress. And more than that — it’s proof that leadership matters. Ben Johnson has these guys looking organized, confident, and like they actually know who they are. He’s not playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers; he’s building a system and holding people accountable inside it. The man’s the freight-broker equivalent of “don’t overcomplicate this, just execute.”

Good: You finally decide to get into cross-border freight.Better: You figure out how Canada actually works.Best: You do both — and stop pretending it’s some mystical, license-heavy wilderness.

 Alright. Let’s talk freight.

You Don’t Need Anything Special to Move Canada Freight

 Let’s clear up the biggest myth first: you don’t need a separate “Canada freight-broker license.”

 If you’re a U.S.-based freight broker arranging cross-border truckloads, you’re covered under your standard FMCSA broker authority — your OP-1 filing, $75,000 bond or trust, and BOC-3. Canada doesn’t require a federal license just because you’re crossing the 49th parallel.

 Here’s what actually matters:

 Your carriers need authority and insurance valid for both sides of the border.

 Somebody (not you, unless you love paperwork) needs to handle the customs brokerage.

 And your paperwork — commercial invoice, BOL with HS codes, PARS/PAPS barcodes — must be perfect.

 That’s it. You don’t need to hire a Mountie with a clipboard. You just need the right partners and a clean process.

The Hockey-City Freight Map

 Canada’s economy is like hockey — regional rivalries, physical, and somehow polite at the same time. Each freight hub has its quirks, just like each team’s fanbase.

 And let’s be real: the vast majority of freight moving between the U.S. and Canada hits a handful of core markets — Toronto, Windsor, Montréal, Vancouver, Calgary/Edmonton, Winnipeg, and a few others. Once you get outside those metros, it’s mostly resource-based freight — oil, gas, mining, timber — and plenty of land so remote that the only way in is by plane, helicopter, or seasonal ice road.

🏒 Toronto (Maple Leafs Country)

 The big one. Auto parts, vehicles, packaging, and industrial freight dominate.

 You’ll hear “The GTA” — The Greater Toronto Area — one of North America’s densest industrial corridors.

 Freight moves heavily with the Midwest and Northeast.

🏒 Windsor (Spitfires Country)

 Auto everything: engines, stampings, drivelines, interiors, finished vehicles.

 The Detroit–Windsor crossing is one of the busiest in North America, handling tens of thousands of commercial trucks every day.

 Tight manufacturing windows mean you need reliable carriers who know the crossing and the timing.

🏒 Ottawa (Senators Country)

 As Canada’s capital, it doesn’t produce a ton of freight — but it receives a lot.

 Government, defense, tech, and construction materials all flow into the region.

 You’ll see more LTL and high-value shipments here than big industrial volumes.

🏒 Montréal (Canadiens Country)

My personal favorite city in Canada (and I own an Expos hat on top of it!)

 Aerospace, aluminum, and high-value manufacturing.

 Expect bilingual paperwork and French emails that start with Bonjour, my friend.

 Québec’s carrier registry adds some red tape, but the market is strong and consistent.

🏒 Québec City (Remparts Country)

 Bulk and break-bulk freight: wood pulp, paper, aluminum-linked cargo, fertilizers, and port-related shipments.

 Nearby Saguenay adds more aluminum and pulp/paper flows.

 Cold winters can complicate port access, but the freight is steady year-round.

🏒 Vancouver (Canucks Country)

 Forestry, lumber, and port freight.

 It’s where Asia meets North America.

 Great backhauls from the U.S. Pacific Northwest into BC.

🏒 Calgary / Edmonton (Flames vs. Oilers)

 The oil and gas capital of Canada.

 Flatbeds, pilot cars, and wide-loads galore.

 Tough weather but high-margin if you know your equipment.

🏒 Saskatchewan: Regina and Saskatoon

 Potash, canola (seed, oil, and meal), oats, wheat, barley, and lentils.

 Regina’s Global Transportation Hub is a trimodal inland port connecting to major Canadian rail lines.

 Agriculture and bulk commodities dominate. Freight is seasonal but reliable and essential.

🏒 Winnipeg (Jets)

 The crossroads of Canada. Agriculture, grain, and wood products rule here.

 Seasonal surges during harvest, quieter winters.

 It’s well connected to Minnesota and North Dakota carriers, which makes it a natural extension for Midwest brokers.

🏒 The Maritimes (Atlantic Canada)

 If you’ve never heard the term before, The Maritimes refers to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island — the eastern provinces hugging the Atlantic.They don’t move the same volume as Ontario or Québec, but they quietly ship an impressive amount of specialty freight — especially peat moss.

 Peat moss is the unsung hero of Canada’s ag exports. It’s used in horticulture, gardening, and soil production all over the U.S. Those massive bales you see at garden centers every spring? They likely came out of New Brunswick or PEI, hauled by flatbeds and dry vans through border crossings like Houlton, ME.It’s lightweight, bulky, and ships year-round — a sneaky-good backhaul opportunity for U.S. carriers delivering to the Northeast.

 Other Maritimes exports include seafood (lobster, scallops, fish), forest products (lumber, pulp, paper), refined fuels from the massive Irving refinery in Saint John, PEI potatoes, wild blueberries, and gypsum for construction. Smaller, family-run carriers dominate the region and have deep cross-border experience, especially into New England.

The Domestic Canada Problem

 If you’re thinking about brokering loads entirely within Canada — say Toronto to Vancouver — here’s what you need to know:

 Every province runs its own system of record for carriers: Ontario’s CVOR, Québec’s SAAQ, Alberta’s Safety Fitness Certificate, and so on.

 These systems don’t talk to each other. That’s led to rampant double-brokering, cloned authorities, and fake carrier profiles.

 If you move domestic freight in Canada, you’re required to register for GST/HST (Canada’s version of sales tax) and bill in CAD, not USD.

 If you’re not set up for that, or you’re not operating through a Canadian subsidiary, you really shouldn’t be moving domestic freight at all.

 That’s exactly why Cargado hasn’t opened up Domestic Canada yet.We know it’s a real issue, and we’re building a real answer before we go live there.The last thing brokers need is another marketplace full of recycled loads and fraudulent carriers. But once we’re confident in the infrastructure — we’re going north.

What’s Actually Moving

 When people picture Canada, they think maple syrup and hockey pucks. In reality, it’s one of America’s core trading partners, and about 70% of that trade moves by truck.

🇨🇦 Top 10 Exports from Canada to the U.S. (Truck-Heavy)

 Mineral fuels, oils, and gas (crude, refined, LPG)

 Vehicles and auto parts

 Machinery and industrial equipment

 Aluminum (massive in Québec)

 Wood and lumber

 Electrical components

 Plastics

 Aerospace parts

 Precious metals and minerals

 Grains and agricultural goods

🇺🇸 What Canada Imports from the U.S.

 Vehicles and heavy equipment

 Machinery and parts

 Mineral fuels and refined petroleum

 Electrical equipment

 Plastics and resins

 Pharmaceuticals

 Food and beverages

 Steel and fabricated metals

 Building materials

 Computers and electronics

 Trucks cross both ways full. It’s one of the few freight markets where balanced trade actually exists.

Why You Should Care

 Cross-border freight is the easiest way to grow your brokerage right now without reinventing your business.

It’s high-volume: trucks handle nearly $70 billion/month in U.S.–Canada trade.

It’s less saturated: far fewer brokers specialize in it.

It’s familiar: same playbook, just a few more forms.

It’s stable: demand holds up even when U.S. spot rates fall apart.

 Your biggest edge? Confidence.You don’t need special licensing. You just need strong carrier relationships and an understanding of how cross-border paperwork actually works.

Wrapping It Up

 When everyone’s crashing on the U.S. domestic market, you’ve got to think outside the box — or outside the country, in this case.Go after Canada. (And Mexico while you’re at it.)

 There’s freight moving from hockey cities, from the Maritimes, from the oil fields, and from the ports — all of it trucked by carriers who already know how to cross the border. You just need to get in the mix.

 This isn’t about chasing shiny objects. It’s about expanding where the volume already is — north and south, not just east and west.

 So yeah, pour one out for the Jays, raise one for the Bears, and maybe pour another for your first load into Canada.

 Oh — and if you’ll be at the Traffic Club of Montreal’s Oysterfest, Nov 12–14, or you’re based in Montréal and want to meet up while I’m in town, shoot me a note.

Stay Updated

 If you found this helpful, subscribe below to stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics, freight tech, and the evolving brokerage model.

 I share stories, data, and playbooks from the front lines of nearshoring — and how tools like Cargado are helping brokers quote, cover, and manage freight across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

 Because the brokers who win the next decade are the ones who start building cross-border relationships today.

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---

## Five Tips to Grow Your Mexico and Canada Business

**Published:** 2025-10-30  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/five-tips-to-grow-your-mexico-and

*Practical, high-impact moves to kickstart your Mexico and Canada business this week.*


You just signed up for Cargado.

 Or maybe you can’t stop looking at those ridiculous LinkedIn posts from me and Miguel and thinking:

“Alright, I need some Mexico or Canada freight in order to sign up for Cargado.”

 Fair. But here’s the thing — you’ve already got it.You just don’t realize it yet.

 Most brokers I talk to think cross-border freight is some mystical world filled with customs paperwork, driver swaps, and problems waiting to happen. But what’s actually keeping most people from jumping in isn’t complexity — it’s unfamiliarity.

 When I lead our Mexico 101 sessions, I tell people this:Cross-border isn’t hard. It’s just new.

 And once you get a few reps in, it becomes one of the highest-margin, stickiest, and most interesting parts of your business.

 So here’s your playbook. Five things you can do this week to start growing your Mexico or Canada business — no new hires, no giant rollout plan, no excuses.

1. Start at the border — and then go beyond it

 Here’s your first clue: your customers already have Mexico freight. They just stop short.

 If you’re moving loads into Laredo, Pharr, Brownsville, or El Paso, those shipments are probably crossing into Mexico right after delivery. But someone else — a forwarder or a partner — is handling that leg, marking it up, and taking the credit.

 You can take it back.Ask your customer:

“What happens to that freight once it gets to Laredo?”

 Nine times out of ten, the answer will uncover opportunity.

 If your customer’s moving Birmingham to Laredo, offer to handle Birmingham to Monterrey instead. That one step eliminates a handoff, reduces damage risk, and builds loyalty — because now you’re solving their entire move, not half of it.

 The same principle works northbound.

 If you’re already hauling into Detroit, Buffalo, or Seattle, you’re right next to a Canadian market that trades more with the U.S. than any country on earth except Mexico. Stop thinking of those borders as endpoints — they’re gateways.

 The best cross-border brokers didn’t start with a Mexico division. They started with one customer and a single question.

2. Hunt by industry, not geography

 Mexico freight doesn’t show up randomly. It clusters around certain industries — the ones building, assembling, or finishing products on both sides of the border.

 Here are your high-probability targets:

 If you have a customer in any of those spaces, odds are they already have cross-border freight.

 Instead of asking “Do you ship to Mexico?” — ask,

“Do you have any suppliers or customers in Mexico or Canada?”

 That’s how you uncover real volume. There is way more freight moving from Mexico to the U.S. than in the other direction.

 Then do a little research. Most mid-to-large manufacturers publish their supplier maps or plant footprints right on their websites. Pull that list, make a few calls, and you’ll have a lane list by the end of the day.

 Don’t overcomplicate it. Just go where the trade is already happening — you’ll find opportunity hiding in plain sight.

3. Build relationships before you need them

 Everyone’s first fear with cross-border is paperwork.Let me save you from losing two weeks of your life: don’t get buried in it.

 You don’t need to know every pedimento code or tariff line. You just need one customs broker and one trusted carrier who do. And your customer provides the customs broker!

 Here’s the real game: know who to call when something goes sideways.

 When a truck gets flagged at the bridge, or a driver runs out of hours, or a document’s missing — your customers don’t want to hear excuses. They want to know someone’s handling it.

 That’s where relationships win.

 Ask your carriers:

“Who do you prefer to work with on the customs side?”

 They’ll give you names. Build that relationship early.That way, when you book your first load, you already have your “fix-it” people lined up.

 You don’t need a department. You need a phone number.

4. Quote like a pro

 Most people lose money on their first Mexico load because they quote it like a domestic move.

 Don’t.

 Cross-border quoting is about variables — not just distance. You’re factoring in a border crossing, a clearance window, and the fact that you’ll often be working with two drivers (a U.S. and a Mexico side).

 Here’s your checklist:

 Origin and destination

 Border crossing city (Laredo, Pharr, Nogales, etc.)

 Commodity and trailer type

 Weight and load value

 Who handles the crossing

 Clearance time (add 1–3 days)

 This one habit saves your margin.

 If you’re using Cargado, you can see real cross-border rates instantly — not guesses, not “domestic rate + 500 bucks.” You get actual bid-driven market data for both spot and contracted freight, so you can quote confidently and stay competitive without racing to the bottom.

 Because quoting confidently isn’t about being cheap — it’s about being right.

5. Stop waiting. Just post it.

 This is the simplest advice but also the most important: stop overthinking it and just post your first lane.

 Ask your customer:

“Do you have any cross-border freight right now?”

 Then get the lane details — even if it’s just one load.

 Post it on Cargado.You’ll get live bids from vetted carriers, see real pricing data, and start to understand how the market works.

 That’s how everyone starts.

 Mexico and Canada freight are still wildly underserved. There’s far more demand than supply. The people who win are the ones who start — not the ones who wait until they feel ready.

 You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be present.

What You’ll Realize After Your First Load

 Once you move your first cross-border load, everything changes.

 You realize:

 Margins are 2–3x higher than domestic freight

 The relationships you build are stickier — customers don’t churn when you’re solving their hardest problem

 You didn’t need a new team, just better tools

 That’s why we built Cargado.

 Our customers start small — one lane, one customer — and within weeks they’re managing steady Mexico and Canada volume. The same people who used to say “we don’t touch cross-border” are suddenly leading their company’s expansion strategy.

 You don’t need to be the biggest. You just need to be the first in your office willing to figure it out.

Final Thought

 Cross-border isn’t a new category of freight — it’s the next frontier of the same job you’re already great at.

 It’s relationship-driven, high-margin, and repeatable.

 Find one lane.Call one customer.Post one load.

 Then do it again next week.

 That’s how you grow your Mexico and Canada business.

 And when people in your office ask how you did it, tell them the truth:

“I stopped waiting and just started.”

Stay Updated

 If you found this helpful, subscribe below to stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics, freight tech, and the evolving brokerage model.

 I share stories, data, and playbooks from the front lines of nearshoring — and how tools like Cargado are helping brokers quote, cover, and manage freight across the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

 Because the brokers who win the next decade are the ones who start building cross-border relationships today.

 Subscribe now


---

## Cargado isn’t your father's load board

**Published:** 2025-10-15  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/cargado-isnt-your-fathers-load-board

*Only 60% of marketplace activity is spot freight — the rest is recurring lanes and projects fueled by Cargado’s live market intelligence.*


If you’ve spent time in freight, you know that load board is a loaded term. And behind all of it is the market intelligence that logistics companies now rely on to quote, price, and plan cross-border freight.

 If you’ve spent time in freight, you know that load board is a loaded term.

 It conjures images of noise, spam, and brokers posting the same load in ten places hoping one truck sticks.

 We get it. We even use the term ourselves sometimes — because it’s what people understand.

 But Cargado isn’t a load board. It’s a capacity management and market intelligence platform.

 Load boards are bulletin boards for freight.

 Cargado is a collaboration platform — where brokers manage coverage, benchmark pricing, and build real carrier relationships across the U.S.-Mexico border, Mexico, and Canada.

It’s Not Just Loads — It’s the Lanes That Matter

 Roughly 60% of postings on Cargado are loads.

 The rest are lanes that customers are sourcing for RFPs, contracted freight, dedicated capacity, or recurring projects.

 This mix is intentional.

 We designed Cargado for how freight actually works:

 some days you’re covering spot freight, other days you’re building programs and pricing multi-month projects.

 That’s why our customers use Cargado not only to find coverage, but to grow their networks — tracking where they already move freight, where they could be more competitive, and where market rates are shifting fastest.

Live Market Intelligence, Not Static Averages

 Every day, 300–500 new carrier bids flow through Cargado — live, not scraped.

 That adds up to 90,000+ carrier-submitted bids across 2,000+ lanes, updated weekly.

 This isn’t survey data or stale averages. It’s real carrier pricing — from carriers actively moving freight.

 And that’s why logistics companies use Cargado’s rate data for more than quoting: they use it for budgeting, procurement, and forecasting.

Benchmark spend: Instantly see if you’re above or below market on any lane.

Get instant spot rates: Mexico and Canada included — no back-and-forth emails.

Run RFPs in seconds: Upload your lanes and generate market-based rate bands instantly.

 It’s not market “insight.” It’s true carrier-driven pricing data.

Capacity Management, Not Just Coverage

 On Cargado, customers post and cover both spot and contracted freight — across Mexico, Canada, and domestic lanes.

Mexico northbound coverage now exceeds 90% on key lanes like Querétaro–Detroit and Monterrey–Chicago.

Mexico → Canada lanes such as Monterrey–Toronto and Querétaro–Montreal are hitting 100% bid rates.

Canada → U.S. outbound freight is seeing robust bid activity, averaging 4–5 bids per posting on lanes like Toronto–Chicago and Montréal–Chattanooga, with 80–90% coverage rates across most southbound corridors.

Domestic Mexico freight is surging, with Querétaro–Monterrey at 92% coverage.

 That kind of consistency doesn’t happen on a “board.”

 It happens when capacity and data work together.

The Flywheel: Data Feeds Capacity, Capacity Feeds Data

 Every bid, every post, every coverage event makes the system smarter.

 Each bid improves our Market Index, measuring supply and demand by region.

 Each match refines rate data for future quotes.

 Each new broker brings in new carriers — and vice versa.

 That’s how we’ve built a network of 200+ active Mexican carriers, many covering both domestic and cross-border freight.

 Every user contributes to the accuracy of the data that powers the next deal.

 It’s a self-reinforcing loop — data fuels capacity, capacity fuels data — and it benefits everyone plugged into it.

Customer Outcomes

 When customers fully adopt Cargado, the impact compounds fast.

One large brokerage doubled its active postings within weeks after combining Cargado Market Rates with its Mexico and Domestic Mexico freight strategy — resulting in a 3x increase in carrier engagement and an average of 5–6 bids per posting.

One mid-sized brokerage previously at risk of churn re-engaged after adopting Domestic Mexico, more than doubling its weekly posting volume and quickly becoming one of the top participants in that market.

One cross-border brokerage expanding into Canada achieved a 2x increase in lane coverage in its first week, averaging 4 bids per posting across northbound and southbound freight.

 These aren’t edge cases — they’re early signs of what happens when a broker stops operating blind and starts operating with data.

Why It Matters

 A typical load board helps you get a bunch of phone calls to find a truck.

 Cargado helps you build a network, price intelligently, and compete with confidence.

 That’s the difference between hustling and optimizing.

 Between chasing spot loads and managing an actual freight strategy.

 And it’s all built on one idea:

 When brokers and carriers can collaborate in a modern environment, everyone wins faster.

The Bottom Line

 Cargado isn’t your typical load board.

 It’s where coverage meets intelligence, and freight meets foresight.

Win more freight. Post more lanes. Build a serious network.

 That’s what our customers are doing every single day.

P.S.

 We’ve got some really awesome new products launching soon. Like, really soon.

 Make sure we’re connected on LinkedIn and X, and follow Cargado on LinkedIn too.

 If you want a peak at the roadmap and how we’re going to drive this industry forward through a collaboration platform, reach out directly and I’ll walk you through it!

 👉 Stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics and freight tech by subscribing at CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com.

 Subscribe now


---

## It might be time to fire your Mexico or Canada leader

**Published:** 2025-10-01  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/it-might-be-time-to-fire-your-mexico

*Stop paying people to dial for dollars and waste time on WhatsApp and LinkedIn covering freight when software can do it faster — and better.*


There’s a problem inside a lot of brokerages right now: your Mexico or Canada leader is telling you they can scale the business without modern tools. They’re lying to you.

 That may sting, but let’s look at the facts.

The Reality Check

 On Cargado, the average posting is pushed to 120 carriers within 60 seconds of hitting the system. One hundred and twenty carriers who’ve already said yes, I haul that freight. Do they all bid? Not on every posting. But you will get bids — and usually faster than your team can even finish describing the load over the phone.

 Compare that to the “traditional” process: 20–30 minutes explaining a single Mexico or Canada load via WhatsApp or phone calls. One load. One conversation. One shot at coverage. Meanwhile, your competitors are getting five carrier bids before your team has finished leaving a voicemail.

 It’s insane, in 2025, to still rely on that.

The Wrong Work vs. The Right Work

 When you invest in a Mexico or Canada team, you should be investing in relationship builders, managers, and problem solvers. People who:

 Sit with customers.

 Walk facilities and border crossings.

 Build trust with carriers and customs brokers.

 Solve problems when things inevitably go sideways.

 What you should not be investing in is people who simply “dial for dollars.” There is too much software available now that can do that work faster, cheaper, and better than a human. If your leaders are still telling you they need to add headcount to hammer the phones, while simultaneously demoing every “AI voice agent” startup out there, you’re in denial about where this industry is going.

The Laziness & Complacency Problem

 Let’s call it what it is: laziness and complacency.

 If your cross-border leaders are still running the same playbook they did five years ago — WhatsApp blasts, spreadsheets, “spray-and-pray” LinkedIn posts — they’re not leading. They’re hiding.

 That’s not scalable. That’s not strategic. And it’s not what your customers are paying for.

Technology Is the Differentiator

 The future of brokerage isn’t about who can yell the loudest on WhatsApp. It’s about who adopts the right technology and actually scales through it.

 I’ve seen what Cargado can do for some of the largest logistics companies in North America. Their leaders aren’t afraid to put the phone down and let technology amplify their reach, their speed, and their carrier relationships.

 And here’s what they’re doing with our data:

Benchmarking → Checking rates against the p25 and p75 ranges so they know exactly where they stand with carriers. If they’re above p25, they know it’s time to drive rates down or source new capacity.

Spot Pricing → Unlocking the Market Rates UI for their entire sales team, so anyone can grab an accurate quote instantly and pitch a customer confidently.

RFPs via Excel Add-In → Running full RFPs in minutes, not weeks, by pulling market data directly into Excel.

 This isn’t theory. This is live, repeatable, and driving real outcomes right now.

The Weekend Test

 Still think “old school” works? Cover a load on Saturday. Gone are the days of stripping out freight by hammering the phones. The winners aren’t the ones with the loudest call floor — they’re the ones with technology that delivers instant reach to the right carriers. I see brokers regularly cover weekend spot loads in a matter of minutes, not hours or by making dozens of phone calls.

The Window of Opportunity

 This market is slow. Which means it’s the perfect time to:

 👉 Build your carrier base.

 👉 Diversify services.

 👉 Put in place systems that will scale when volumes come back.

 Because when the market turns, the brokers who clung to phones and WhatsApp will be flatlined. The ones who invested in modern platforms will be sitting on stronger margins, deeper carrier networks, and customers who notice the difference.

 Your Mexico or Canada leader doesn’t need more headcount. They need to stop hiding behind excuses, stop doing the wrong work, and start building the right kind of business.

 Because the truth is simple: companies that evolve through this market will be the ones that adopt the right technology — not the ones that keep dialing phones like it’s 2012.

 It’s time to get Cargado if you aren’t using it today. Your competition sure is.

 👉 Stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics and freight tech by subscribing at CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com.

 Subscribe now


---

## The Many Faces of Carriers in Cargado

**Published:** 2025-09-26  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/the-many-faces-of-carriers-in-cargado

*Oh, the Faces of Carriers You’ll See — across the U.S.-Mexico border and Canada’s wide roads.*


When people think “Mexico carrier,” they often imagine one thing: a trucking company that can move freight in and out of Mexico. The truth is far more complicated. Carriers fall into very different categories, each with its own authorities, paperwork, and role in cross-border logistics. And now with Canada live in Cargado, the carrier landscape gets even more diverse.

 At Cargado, we’ve built a network that supports domestic Mexico, cross-border Mexico, domestic Canada, and cross-border Canada freight. To do that, you need to understand who the carriers are and what makes them different.

Mexico Carrier Types

1. US-Based Carriers with CDL Drivers

 These carriers haul the US side of the freight but don’t send their trucks across the border. They rely on a Mexican partner carrier to move trailers within Mexico and a transfer carrier to handle the actual crossing. Think Monterrey → Chicago, Guadalajara → Dallas, or Mexicali → Phoenix.

2. Transfer Carriers (OP-2 Authority)

 Transfer carriers operate only within the commercial trade zone: Nuevo Laredo ↔ Laredo, Juarez ↔ El Paso, Tijuana ↔ Otay Mesa. They’re registered with both US and Mexican customs (SCAC, CAAT, DOT#, MX#), but their OP-2 authority prohibits them from running deeper into the US. They’re the bridge, not the long-haul.

3. US-Based Carriers with B1 Drivers (OP-1 Authority)

 Some US carriers employ Mexican drivers with special B1 visas. These drivers live in border cities like Nuevo Laredo and can haul freight throughout the US, not just in the border zone. They carry US cargo insurance, run under OP-1 authority, and are often booked for door-to-door (D2D) cross-border freight. TransMex, Knight-Swift’s Mexican entity, is a good example.

4. Mexico-Based Carriers

 There are over 200,000 trucking companies in Mexico. Some run domestic freight only, others specialize in drayage at ports and ramps, and many operate “rabons” and “thortons” (smaller trucks that handle partial loads, like a U-Haul in the US). They operate with RFC# (tax ID) and SCT# (DOT equivalent), and while most don’t show up in US systems like SAFER, many now partner with US entities to offer true D2D service.

Canada Carrier Types

 Canada adds another layer of nuance:

Cross-Border Carriers: Canadian fleets that run north ↔ south into the US, often larger asset-based companies with significant long-haul capacity.

Domestic Canada Carriers: Thousands of smaller fleets—sometimes just 1–5 trucks—serving corridors like Toronto ↔ Montreal or Vancouver ↔ Calgary. These smaller carriers are a big part of our Canada onboarding strategy .

Specialized Segments: Just like in Mexico, you’ll find Canadian drayage carriers at rail ramps and ports, flatbed carriers hauling industrial loads, and temperature-controlled carriers serving food and pharma supply chains.

 Our goal in Canada is to make sure brokers can cover both high-volume cross-border lanes and everyday domestic moves. That’s why we’ve been targeting everything from the largest fleets down to the 1–5 truck carriers that rely heavily on marketplaces .

Why This Matters

 When a broker says “I need a Mexico carrier” or “I need a Canada carrier,” the reality is: Which kind? The answer changes everything about how freight gets covered.

 Need a trailer from Guadalajara to Dallas? You’ll likely be dealing with at least three carriers.

 Need capacity Toronto ↔ Calgary? You might be working with a small domestic fleet you’d never find outside of a platform like Cargado.

 By understanding these categories, brokers avoid costly mistakes like contracting a transfer carrier for freight that requires OP-1 authority, or overlooking small fleets that can cover domestic lanes.

Cargado’s Approach

 Since launching in early 2024, we’ve onboarded over 1,500 carriers across all these categories. That includes:

 US carriers with CDL and B1 drivers

 Transfer carriers in every major border crossing

 Mexican fleets of all sizes and specialties

 Canadian carriers from large cross-border fleets to the smallest domestic operators

 Our job isn’t just to bring them in. It’s to make sure brokers know who they’re booking and that the freight is moving compliantly and efficiently.

It’s not quite so simple

 “Mexico carrier” and “Canada carrier” aren’t single categories. They’re ecosystems of fleets with different authorities, paperwork, equipment, and service areas.

 That’s why Cargado exists — to make it easy for brokers to tap into the right carriers for the right lanes, whether that’s Monterrey ↔ Chicago, Guadalajara ↔ Saltillo, Toronto ↔ Montreal, or anything in between.

 When you understand the carrier landscape, you realize why marketplaces matter: because building this network yourself would be nearly impossible.

The Cargado Excel Add-In is Here!

P.S.: Quoting lanes just got easier. The Cargado Add-in for Excel is now live. You can pull cross-border market rates directly into your RFP spreadsheets without leaving Excel. Instantly see low, median, and high rates for your lanes, complete with confidence levels and margin of error. For advanced users, we’ve even added custom functions like =CARGADO.RATE_HISTORY_P50

(And yes, a Sheets add-in is coming soon)

 👉 Stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics and freight tech by subscribing at CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com.

 Subscribe now


---

## Driver Inc.: The Canadian Trucking Scam

**Published:** 2025-09-04  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/driver-inc-the-canadian-trucking

*How some Canadian trucking companies are cutting corners and cheating the system.*


If you’ve been around Canadian trucking lately, you’ve probably heard the term Driver Inc. It isn’t a new carrier or a tech platform — it’s a shady payroll setup some fleets are using to cut costs. And it’s causing headaches across the industry.

What Is Driver Inc.?

 Here’s the play:

 A fleet (usually small to mid-sized carriers, though it’s spread beyond that) tells its drivers to go incorporate a numbered company — something like “123456 Ontario Inc.”

 Instead of paying those drivers as employees, the fleet now pays invoices to the numbered company.

 On paper, the driver looks like an independent business.

 In reality, nothing changes: the driver is still hauling the fleet’s trailers, on the fleet’s dispatch schedule, using the fleet’s insurance, and following the fleet’s rules.

 The only real change is that the carrier dodges employment obligations like CPP, EI, workers’ comp, overtime, vacation pay, and health benefits.

Why Carriers Do It

Lower payroll costs: No employer contributions to CPP/EI or provincial workers’ comp.

No employee rights: No overtime, paid time off, or termination rules to follow.

Tax shifting: The burden gets dumped on the driver, who may not realize the risks until tax season.

Why It’s a Problem

Drivers lose protections: They miss out on EI, CPP contributions, and safety coverage. If CRA audits, they may owe back taxes.

Legit fleets get undercut: Compliant carriers are stuck competing with artificially low operating costs.

The industry takes a hit: Lower wages, higher turnover, and reputational damage.

Government loses revenue: Billions in taxes and premiums never get collected.

 The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) calls Driver Inc. “tax evasion,” and the government is now auditing fleets that use it.

How Is This Different from an Owner-Operator?

 This is the obvious question — and the answer is simple.

 A true owner-operator invests in their own truck, pays their own insurance, controls their business decisions, and leases on to a carrier under a contract. They decide when and how they work, even if they rely on one carrier for freight.

 A Driver Inc. “contractor” doesn’t own the truck, doesn’t control the work, and has no real independence. They’re employees in everything but name — only reclassified to save the carrier money.

 Think of it this way: Owner-ops carry business risk. Driver Inc. drivers carry tax risk.

Show-Me-the-Money: Toronto → Chicago on $850

 Here’s a simple example: one fleet invoices $850 USD for a Toronto-to-Chicago load.

 With a driver paid as an employee, the carrier covers not just wages but also payroll obligations (CPP, EI, workers’ comp, vacation pay).

 With Driver Inc., the fleet pays only the invoice — none of those obligations.

Same truck. Same freight. Same driver pay. The only difference is compliance.

Why Brokers and Shippers Should Care

 You may not be the one hiring drivers directly, but it still matters:

Compliance risk – Freight moving under Driver Inc. carriers could attract regulator scrutiny.

Service instability – Drivers without protections churn faster, hurting capacity reliability.

Rate distortion – Artificially low costs create an uneven playing field in the carrier market.

Sustainability – Partnering with compliant fleets reduces long-term supply chain risk.

Bottom Line

 Driver Inc. isn’t innovation — it’s misclassification. It pits compliant carriers against rule-breakers, exposes drivers to risk, and creates downstream headaches for brokers and shippers.

 The takeaway for the industry is clear: ask your carrier partners how they classify their drivers. Supporting compliant operators isn’t just the right thing to do — it’s how you build a more stable, reliable supply chain.

 👉 Stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics and freight tech by subscribing at CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com.

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---

## Mexico 101: What Makes It Different

**Published:** 2025-09-02  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/mexico-101-what-makes-it-different

*Why fear of the unknown — not customs — is the biggest barrier to cross-border freight.*


I’ve been on the road the past few weeks — spending time with customers and prospects in Dallas TX, Kansas City MO, and Birmingham AL, including our friends at Blackbox Logistics and Will Hopkins (check out my podcast appearance with Will on 2 Dawgs 1 Pod). I also spoke at the TIA regional event at McLeod’s headquarters and Transportation Club of Dallas Fort Worth, where cross-border freight was a hot topic.

 The more time I spend in these rooms, the more convinced I am of one simple truth: brokers of all sizes can grow their cross-border footprint. Whether you’re a top-10 3PL or a 10-person shop, the playbook is within reach — and it starts with your existing customers.

Fear of the Unknown: The Real Gatekeeper

 People often say customs is the barrier to Mexico freight. It isn’t. Fear of the unknown is the real gatekeeper.

 Most brokers hesitate to pursue cross-border because they don’t know when to ask their customers about it, how to support it, or what will be expected of them. That hesitation is exactly why the opportunity feels so different.

 Here’s the reality: you don’t need to be a customs expert. You don’t need to memorize forms or set up a Mexican entity. What you do need is curiosity, the confidence to ask the right questions, and the willingness to lean in with a partner like Cargado to expand your service offering.

 If you don’t, you risk falling behind while others take the freight that could have been yours.

Start by Asking the Right Questions

 Here are the four questions that consistently uncover opportunities:

Are you manufacturing anything in Mexico?

Are you buying anything from Mexico?

Are you selling anything to your customers who have facilities in Mexico?

And what about your Canada freight — do you sell anything in Canada?

 Customers’ answers will almost always reveal freight already moving. And more often than not, they’ll admit Mexico is their top headache. That’s your entry point.

Mexico 101: What You Really Need to Know

1. Customs isn’t your job — but relationships are

 Every load that crosses into or out of Mexico requires customs brokers on both sides. But here’s the thing: you don’t have to do their job.

 Make sure your customer introduces you to their customs broker. That broker will handle the paperwork and tell you what they need and when. Your responsibility is to go get those details and keep everything accurate.

 Instead of fearing customs, focus on making the connection and building the relationship. That’s where your value lies.

2. Expect multiple hand-offs

 Unlike a domestic load, cross-border moves typically involve at least three carriers:

 A U.S. carrier moving freight to the border

 A transfer (dray) carrier handling the border crossing

 A Mexico carrier hauling inland

 Your job is to smooth those hand-offs so your customer doesn’t feel the friction.

3. Northbound ≠ southbound

Southbound (U.S. → Mexico): Export paperwork and customs delays are the big risks.

Northbound (Mexico → U.S.): This is production freight — time-sensitive goods feeding U.S. plants and DCs. Miss a delivery, and you risk shutting down a line.

 Brokers who understand these dynamics can set expectations, prevent surprises, and keep customers coming back.

4. Don’t sleep on Canada

 The U.S.–Canada border is simpler than Mexico, but the freight opportunity is enormous. Many shippers quietly move steady Canada lanes, often without dedicated broker support. Asking “Do you sell anything in Canada?” is a powerful way to uncover revenue hiding in plain sight.

5. Education is the sale

 At multiple events recently, I’ve been reminded that many brokers still think Mexico is “too complicated.” But when you break it down — who touches the freight, what the customs broker handles, and how the hand-offs work — the fear disappears. Customers don’t want you to be a customs lawyer; they want you to make the process feel manageable.

 Education is what turns curiosity into confidence.

How to Put This Into Practice

 Here’s a simple path:

Ask the four questions with every customer.

Pick one lane. Don’t try to boil the ocean. Start with Monterrey–Dallas, Guadalajara–Montreal, or Toronto–Chicago.

Get introduced to the customs broker. Let them lead; you just manage the flow.

Work with a handful of repeat carriers. Consistency beats scattershot.

Communicate clearly. Customers don’t need perfection — they need transparency.

Leverage the Cargado team of cross-border experts. Everyone deserves the chance to become an expert. With the right tools and support, you don’t have to learn by trial and error.

Data Snapshot

 To make this tangible, I’ll be adding live screenshots from our platform showing rate data on a few example lanes:

Monterrey, NL → Dallas, TX

Chihuahua, CHH → Toronto, ON

Toronto, ON → Chicago, IL

 Each one highlights a different dimension: border-adjacent freight, western Mexico to Canada, and core U.S.–Canada flows.

Final Thoughts

 The real barrier to cross-border freight isn’t customs or language barrier. It’s fear of the unknown.

 If you’re waiting until you’re “ready,” you’ll be waiting forever. The brokers who are growing fastest aren’t waiting — they’re asking the right questions, saying yes to their customers, and leaning in with Cargado to expand their service offerings.

 Mexico and Canada aren’t side hustles anymore. They’re growth strategies. And if you don’t embrace them, someone else will.

 👉 Stay updated on the latest in cross-border logistics and freight tech by subscribing at CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #62: Clearing the Air on B1 Drivers, Worker Visas, and Cabotage

**Published:** 2025-08-22  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/clearing-the-air-on-b1-drivers-worker

*B1 drivers are not the enemy — they are a core part of North American supply chain!*


Quick Note: Wow! Two newsletters in one week after getting called out by a reader for not writing as consistently… let’s dive into the X post of the week:

 When Secretary Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. was pausing the issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers, it set off a firestorm online.

 His post suggested that foreign drivers were operating tractor-trailers across U.S. highways, endangering lives, and undercutting American truckers.

 I jumped in with a quick clarification on X (formerly Twitter): this doesn’t apply to B1 drivers from Mexico or Canadian drivers hauling cross-border freight. That post got traction — and the replies started pouring in.

 What began as a short tweet turned into a long discussion with drivers, carriers, and industry insiders. Some agreed, some disagreed, and some flat-out accused B1 drivers of stealing freight. It was heated, but it was also productive.

 So I decided to put it all down here, in one place.

What a B1 Driver Actually Is

 Let’s start with the basics.

 A B1 visa is not a “worker visa.” It’s a business visitor visa that allows foreign nationals to conduct certain types of business in the United States. For trucking, it permits drivers from Mexico to enter the U.S. for one purpose: to haul freight that crosses an international border.

 That means:

 A B1 driver can take a load from Monterrey to Chicago.

 That same driver can then pick up freight in Chicago and haul it to Laredo if that freight is destined for Mexico (i.e., an export).

 That same driver cannot legally pick up a load in Chicago and deliver it to San Antonio. That’s domestic freight, and it’s cabotage.

 It’s really that simple: B1 drivers are only allowed to move international shipments.

Why You See Mexican Plates in Chicago

 One of the loudest pushbacks I heard online was: “I see Mexican trucks in Chicago all the time. That has to be cabotage.”

 Not necessarily.

 Chicago is one of the largest freight hubs in North America. It’s where massive amounts of cross-border freight flows before being distributed across the country. Auto parts, steel, plastics, electronics — Mexico exports all of it, and a lot of it lands in Chicago.

 So yes, you’ll see Mexican-plated trucks in Chicago. But in nearly all cases, they’re there legally, because they’re delivering international freight from Mexico.

The Nature of Cross-Border Freight

 It’s also worth remembering that most freight coming from Mexico is production-oriented freight.

 Think auto parts headed to assembly plants, electronics bound for final assembly, or components feeding U.S. manufacturing facilities. Other loads go into U.S. distribution centers, where they enter regional networks and ultimately become domestic freight that American drivers haul to final destinations.

 In other words:

 B1 drivers move the international leg — getting freight into the U.S.

 American drivers pick it up from there — moving it through the domestic network.

 This isn’t freight being “taken away” from U.S. drivers. It’s freight that creates more domestic freight downstream, because the goods from Mexico are feeding U.S. plants, DCs, and ultimately U.S. consumers.

The Deadhead Debate

 Another common argument was: “There’s no way those trucks deadhead back to Mexico. They must be picking up U.S. loads.”

 Here’s the truth:

 After delivering a northbound load in Chicago, B1 drivers need to get back to Mexico.

 They can legally pick up another load in the U.S., but only if that freight is destined for Mexico (or Canada).

 If they can’t find one, yes, they may deadhead hundreds of miles south to position for their next international move.

 That means a driver could legally deadhead 500 miles to pick up a load in San Antonio, as long as that freight is crossing back into Mexico.

 What they cannot do — and what I do not support — is taking a Chicago → San Antonio load where the freight stays in San Antonio. That’s cabotage. That’s illegal. That’s not what B1 drivers are supposed to do.

My Stance on Cabotage

 Let me be crystal clear:

 👉 I don’t support cabotage.

 Cabotage cheats the system, undermines American drivers, and puts law-abiding carriers at a disadvantage.

 If a carrier is running B1 drivers on domestic freight, they should lose their CTPAT certification. If a driver is caught doing it, they should lose their visa. Period.

 But it’s important to separate the few who cheat from the overwhelming majority who don’t. Most B1 drivers are not risking their livelihood by running illegal domestic freight. Their entire ability to work in cross-border trucking depends on following the rules.

Why Southbound Freight Looks Different

 Here’s another wrinkle:

 Northbound freight (Mexico → U.S.) pays very well. That’s where cross-border carriers make their money.

 Southbound freight (U.S. → Mexico) doesn’t pay nearly as well. It’s often just about repositioning equipment. Rates are lower, and drivers sometimes run loads at thin margins just to get back into Mexico and ready for their next northbound trip.

 So when people see “cheap freight” moving toward Laredo, they sometimes assume it’s illegal cabotage. In reality, it’s usually freight destined for Mexico — and moving freight to the border for export is not cabotage.

Canadian Drivers

 Canadian drivers are in a different category altogether. They operate under long-standing reciprocal agreements with the U.S. They don’t use B1 visas. They’re legally allowed to cross the border, deliver freight, and return with exports.

 Just like with Mexican drivers, if a Canadian driver is caught running domestic-only U.S. freight, that’s cabotage — and it’s illegal.

Why This Matters

 Without B1 drivers and Canadian drivers, U.S. supply chains would collapse under the weight of border inefficiencies.

 If every load had to be transloaded at the border:

 Consumers would pay more for everything from cars to groceries.

 Supply chains would slow down.

 Damage claims would rise as freight was handled multiple times.

 The USMCA framework was designed to prevent this. Door-to-door cross-border moves are what keep goods flowing, prices lower, and U.S. manufacturers competitive.

The Real Target

 So where should frustration be directed?

 Not at the law-abiding B1 drivers moving international freight. Not at Canadian drivers crossing legally under reciprocal agreements.

 The real problem is:

 Carriers who knowingly commit cabotage.

 Drivers who operate outside the law and risk everyone’s credibility.

 Shady operators using loopholes and undercutting the market.

 Those are the ones regulators need to crack down on.

Final Thought

 This all started as a tweet, became a LinkedIn post, and then spiraled into a heated but meaningful discussion with truck drivers across the internet.

 I’m glad it did, because this industry needs clarity.

 B1 drivers are not the drivers Secretary Rubio is talking about. They’re not on worker visas. They’re not the ones taking domestic freight out of American drivers’ hands when they follow the rules.

 They’re part of the system that makes USMCA work. They keep cross-border freight moving. They support American consumers, manufacturers, and supply chains every single day.

 We should go after the rule-breakers. But we shouldn’t vilify the neighbors, partners, and drivers who are doing it right.

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---

## Issue #61: The Seasons of Scaling

**Published:** 2025-08-19  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-61-the-seasons-of-scaling

*Behind every neat growth curve is a messier reality worth talking about.*


From the outside, it always looks smooth.

 The charts in board decks slope neatly up and to the right. Milestones get packaged into tidy press releases. The narrative is clean: “We’re scaling.”

 Inside, it feels a lot different. Building a company isn’t a straight climb. It’s potholes, detours, days where you feel unstoppable, and days where you’re quietly wondering if you’re steering into a ditch.

 That tension — between the story the outside world sees and the reality on the inside — is something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. And the more time I spend in founder mode, the more I realize: smooth scaling is a myth. What actually happens is seasonal.

Scaling Is Messy by Design

 There’s this collective desire for startups to look predictable:

 Investors want clean curves.

 Teams want clarity.

 Customers want to believe the product is always one step ahead.

 And founders (myself included) want to believe we’re in control.

 But growth doesn’t show up neatly packaged. Every win comes bundled with new headaches.

 You land a big customer, and your contracts grind through weeks of redlines.

 You ship a new product, and the backlog of “plumbing work” jumps out immediately.

 You expand the network, and suddenly you have to rethink coverage city-by-city.

 Scaling doesn’t mean eliminating the mess. It means choosing the right mess.

The Work Nobody Celebrates

 Some of the most important work we’ve done this year hasn’t been sexy.

 Cleaning up billing systems and Stripe integrations.

 Standardizing contracts so sales cycles don’t stall out.

 Tightening expense policies so every dollar of burn actually extends runway.

 Nobody outside the company claps for those things. But if you don’t fix them, they pile up. They become the kind of problems that eat you alive when you’re trying to grow.

 The paradox is that from the outside, scaling looks like speed. From the inside, it often feels like slowing down to clean up the foundation. But that’s exactly what creates compounding later.

Startups Have Seasons

 I used to think every month needed to feel like summer — full speed, nonstop momentum.

 But that’s not how it works. Companies move in seasons:

Spring: planting seeds, experimenting, optimism running high.

Summer: sprinting, long days, maximizing momentum.

Fall: harvesting wins — contracts, adoption, cultural breakthroughs.

Winter: slower, quieter, sometimes uncomfortable — but essential for cleanup and recalibration.

 You don’t get to skip winter. You don’t get to grow without resetting the soil.

 And this applies to customers too. Not every broker is our ICP today. Some aren’t ready yet. Eventually they will be — the market’s heading that way. But right now, the smart thing is to focus on the ones who are. The ones already building cross-border into Mexico and Canada. That’s where the compounding starts.

Founder Energy Is Seasonal Too

 What I didn’t expect is that my own energy mirrors these cycles.

 There are stretches where I’m in sprint mode — carrying a ton of weight, pushing hard, setting the pace. And there are stretches where I need to pull back, regroup, and reset.

 Earlier in my career, I thought the only answer was to push harder every single day. But when you treat every month like summer, you eventually burn out. Worse, the team burns out too.

 Now I manage my energy more intentionally: carving out thinking time, leaning on my team during heavy cycles, and using the slower periods for reflection instead of chasing fake momentum.

 Because founder energy sets the temperature. If I’m frantic, the team feels frantic. If I’m steady, the team feels steady.

Blitzscaling (and Why It’s Not Always the Answer)

 I’ve heard a lot of people reference blitzscaling again lately. And look — I get it. There are moments when moving fast and setting fire to the playbook makes sense.

 But deployed in the wrong season? Blitzscaling is a recipe for disaster.

 If you haven’t cleaned up the fundamentals — billing, contracts, focus on the right customers — scaling faster just means your problems multiply faster. It’s like flooring the gas pedal when your tires are bald. You’re not speeding toward growth, you’re hydroplaning.

 The right size team, serving the right customers, in the right season — that’s what lets you scale sustainably. Then when the timing’s right, you can step on the gas and know the wheels won’t fall off.

Steering Through the Messy Middle

 The myth says if you grind hard enough, the line will eventually be perfectly up and to the right.

 The reality is scaling feels like turbulence. Some days are smooth, some days are shaky. The only guarantee is that the ride won’t be steady.

 The founder’s job isn’t to make the turbulence disappear. It’s to steer through it. To keep the company pointed in the right direction, with the right people and the right customers, even when the line wiggles.

Closing: Playing the Long Game

 Smooth scaling is a myth. The reality is seasonal. Some seasons are fast and exciting. Some are slower and uncomfortable. All of them matter.

 Building in public doesn’t mean sharing every detail. It means being honest about the mindset you need to survive the grind.

 If you’re in a winter right now — cleaning up systems, sharpening focus, right-sizing your team — don’t mistake it for failure. It’s just one of the seasons of scaling.

 And the real job? Making sure you still have enough energy left when spring comes. Because that’s when the next harvest is made possible.

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---

## Issue #60: USMCA on the Clock: What Renegotiation Could Mean for Cross-Border Freight

**Published:** 2025-07-21  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/usmca-on-the-clock-what-renegotiation

*Trump’s Commerce Secretary says USMCA is next. For freight people, the real changes will be capacity-driven.*


It’s happening again. Or at least, it sounds like it is.

 Last week, President Trump said he would “absolutely” renegotiate the USMCA if elected. That headline alone kicked off a wave of speculation, panic-posting, and more than a few questions from freight folks wondering: Wait, does this mean new tariffs are coming?

 Let’s clear this up: yes, the USMCA is up for review. That’s not political spin — it was built that way. A six-year sunset review is baked into the agreement, and 2026 is the first official checkpoint. The U.S., Mexico, and Canada is headed back to the table now.

 But this isn’t NAFTA 2.0 all over again. We’re not going to see massive shifts in freight flows or a top-to-bottom rewrite of trade policy. What we’re likely to see is a mix of incremental rule changes, more enforcement, and political theater — all branded as a “big win” for the U.S.

 Meanwhile, cross-border trade between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada? It’ll probably keep growing.

 Here’s what you need to know.

The Agreement Was Built for This Moment

 The USMCA officially replaced NAFTA in July 2020. It wasn’t a radical overhaul — it kept the duty-free trade structure intact — but it tightened up a few key areas:

Stricter rules of origin for autos and parts

Modernized digital trade protections

More enforceable labor and environmental provisions

Updated IP and pharmaceutical standards

 And it added a sunset clause — a built-in mechanism requiring all three countries to review and reauthorize the agreement every six years.

 So when Trump says he’s planning to renegotiate it in 2026… he’s not blowing it up. He’s just showing up for a meeting that was already on the calendar.

What Changed in 2020: Tighter, Not Transformational

 The most impactful USMCA changes weren’t about what could be traded — they were about how much of it needed to be sourced from North America.

1. Auto Content Rules

 The most high-profile shift was the jump in required North American content for vehicles and parts:

 Under NAFTA: 62.5%

 Under USMCA: 75%

 Some labor wage requirements were added too. Most OEMs and Tier 1s adapted, with more documentation and sourcing audits, but few major supply chain shifts.

2. Customs & Digital Trade Modernization

 Digitization of customs paperwork and streamlined small-parcel thresholds helped e-commerce and LTL more than truckload. Still, less paper and faster clearance is a net positive.

3. Labor & Environmental Provisions

 These gave the U.S. more teeth in enforcement. Important for compliance teams, but not freight-altering.

What’s Likely on the Table in 2026

Auto origin rules: Could go from 75% to 80%

Stricter enforcement: More audits, compliance checks, and country-of-origin documentation

TRQ disputes: Especially dairy and poultry

More Section 232 tariffs: Covering metals, energy, semiconductors, etc.

Political brinkmanship: Suspension threats, tariff deadlines, and exit talk used as leverage

Commodities in the Crosshairs

 President Trump’s strategy is tariff-first. His approach to the USMCA includes:

 A proposed 25% blanket tariff on Mexican and Canadian imports

 Tariff threats tied to border security, fentanyl, and perceived trade imbalances

 Use of “national emergency” declarations to fast-track changes

 Here are the commodities most at risk:

Agriculture & Food

Examples: Avocados, tomatoes, cheese, grains, pork

Why at risk: High cross-border reliance, tariff-rate quotas (TRQs), potential retaliation

Potential impact: 15–25% increase in consumer prices, spoilage risk, supply chain stress

Automotive

Examples: Vehicles, engines, transmissions, auto parts

Why at risk: 70% of U.S. auto parts are sourced from Mexico or Canada; highly integrated “just-in-time” supply chains

Potential impact: $2,000–$5,000 vehicle price hikes, U.S. plant slowdowns, potential 100,000+ job losses

Energy

Examples: Crude oil, natural gas, refined petroleum

Why at risk: Canada is the largest supplier of oil to the U.S.; tariffs could disrupt regional energy flows

Potential impact: Fuel and heating cost increases, pressure on refineries and exporters

Metals & Minerals

Examples: Steel, aluminum, copper, rare earths

Why at risk: Previous and proposed tariffs (up to 50%); essential to construction and industrial supply chains

Potential impact: Higher costs for U.S. manufacturers, retaliation on U.S. exports, sourcing instability

Electronics & Machinery

Examples: Computers, appliances, industrial components

Why at risk: Many are assembled in Mexico; supply chains depend on low-cost, cross-border trucking

Potential impact: Delays in tech sectors, increased costs for consumer goods, potential offshoring reversal

Goods Moved by Truck: The Real Impact Zone

 Cross-border trucking handles over $1.8 trillion in U.S. trade with Mexico and Canada. That’s the frontline for tariff risk.

Most at-risk truck freight:

Perishables: Avocados, berries, tomatoes from Mexico — 50-60% of U.S. fresh produce imports

Automotive: Just-in-time loads from maquiladoras; even small delays ripple upstream

Consumer Goods: Electronics, packaged food, beverages — high-volume, cost-sensitive

Industrial Inputs: Steel coils, chemicals, refined fuels

 Since USMCA’s implementation, truck freight value on these commodities is up 43%. Renegotiation risks like a 25% tariff or tighter TRQs could spike freight rates, force mode shifts, and cause importers to front-load inventory.

So What Does This Mean for Freight?

Short Term:

 Expect headlines, posturing, and pre-2026 stockpiling

 Brokers, carriers, and compliance teams need to watch enforcement language

Medium Term:

 More documentation and border friction in key categories

 Delays at ports of entry, especially LTL and perishable goods

 Some shifts in sourcing as companies respond to cost pressure

Long Term:

 Even with noise and political heat, freight will likely grow:

 Nearshoring momentum continues

 U.S. buyers want diversified sourcing and shorter transit times

 Mexico and Canada remain the U.S.’s most stable, integrated trade partners

The Freight Outlook: More Trucks, Not Fewer

 If the USMCA gets updated in 2026, it will likely be framed as a political win for the U.S. But that doesn’t mean freight flows slow down.

 We saw this in 2020: the rules got stricter, the paperwork got thicker, but trade kept growing.

 This time, it may even accelerate. Companies want stability, predictability, and access to nearby suppliers. If the revised deal preserves those incentives, we could see:

 Even more perishable product moved by truck from Mexico

Higher auto part volumes due to greater North American content compliance

Increased exports of U.S. ag and industrial products into Canada and Mexico

 The trucks will keep rolling. And in the long run, there might be even more of them.

Want to talk about how to navigate these changes? Reach out. Or better yet: keep quoting and covering your cross-border loads. The freight isn’t going anywhere.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #59: Takeaways from the 8th Annual Modernization of Cross-Border Trade

**Published:** 2025-06-23  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-59-takeaways-from-the-8th-annual

*A tactical recap of what we covered in Laredo—and the advice I’d give any broker trying to win in Mexico freight right now.*


Last week I had the privilege of moderating a panel at the 8th Annual Reliance Partners Modernization of Cross-Border Trade event in Laredo—and I can’t say this enough: if you care about cross-border freight, you need to be at this event next year.

 It wasn’t one of those polished but generic conferences. It was freight-forward. Candid. Tactical. Real.

 I was joined by three friends and heavy hitters in the space:

Johnny Curiel from J.B. Hunt, who’s built cross-border at one of the largest transportation companies in North America.

Patty Hinojosa from CargoQuotes, who leads one of the most efficient cross-border operations in the brokerage world today.

Troy Ryley from Echo Global Logistics, who probably needs no intro if you’ve done anything cross-border in the last decade.

 The four of us sat down with an audience full of freight brokers and trucking companies—people already in the Mexico game or looking to enter it—and had an honest conversation about what works, what doesn’t, and how to actually succeed in cross-border freight.

 We didn’t talk about forms or customs paperwork. We focused on the real stuff.

 And now I want to break down the five biggest themes that came out of the session, plus a few of my own thoughts layered on top.

Getting Started in Mexico Freight Is Easier Than People Think — If You Focus

 Let’s be honest: Mexico freight feels intimidating from the outside. Brokers hear “customs,” “transloading,” “bonded carriers,” and suddenly it feels like international forwarding—not something you can quote confidently or scale.

 But here’s the truth: if you’re being asked about Mexico freight, you’re already behind.

 Your customers aren’t asking because they’re curious. They’re asking because they need help. And if you pass it off to someone else or slow-play it internally, you’re handing that customer to another broker who will figure it out.

 What the panel made clear is this: you don’t need to build a fully staffed cross-border division to get started. You don’t need a Monterrey office. You don’t need a customs broker on payroll. You don’t need to spend six months getting “ready.”

 You need:

 A few repeatable lanes to test with

 One person internally who can own it

 A vetted carrier partner

 And ideally, a platform that actually understands Mexico freight

My take: The biggest thing that separates the winners from the tourists in Mexico is focus. You don’t half-do Mexico. You pick your lanes, you show up for your carriers, and you learn how the freight actually moves. Lane by lane. Handoff by handoff. That’s how you build muscle.

Picking the Right Partners Makes or Breaks You

 This was a major theme: brokers and carriers that succeed in Mexico are the ones who invest in the right relationships—especially with carriers south of the border.

 You can’t treat a Mexico-side carrier like a U.S. contract carrier. The expectations are different. The risk tolerance is different. The communication cadence is different.

 As Patty put it: “You’re not just moving freight—you’re building trust across three parties in two countries.”

 What brokers don’t always realize:

 Most Mexican carriers don’t carry U.S.-style cargo insurance

 WhatsApp is the dominant communication tool

 The same MX-side carriers won’t necessarily be available for your 2,500-mile lane to Toronto versus your 300-mile move to Laredo

 And here’s what happens when you choose the wrong partner:

 Shipments get delayed at the border

 You lose visibility for hours (or days)

 Your customer calls you asking where the truck is, and you have no good answer

My take: When we built Forager, I saw firsthand how fragile trust can be in cross-border. One bad load can cost you months of relationship-building. So if you’re a U.S. broker, slow down the carrier onboarding process. Ask around. Look for CTPAT certification if it’s available. And don’t forget—your carrier is your reputation on the Mexico side.

The Border Handoff Is the Most Misunderstood (and Underrated) Piece

 There’s a magical moment in every cross-border move that either makes it or breaks it: the transfer at the border.

 That transfer might involve:

 A U.S. carrier dropping at a yard in Laredo or El Paso

 A drayage or transfer carrier physically taking the trailer across the bridge

 A Mexico carrier picking up and completing the linehaul on the other side

 Or it might involve a single through-trailer carrier with interchange agreements or B-1 drivers. There are a dozen ways to structure it—and most brokers don’t understand half of them.

 We talked about this on the panel, and Troy emphasized something important: “It’s not just about who owns what leg. It’s about who owns the communication during the handoff.”

 That’s where loads go dark. That’s where loads get stuck. That’s where brokers lose trust.

My take: There’s no one right way to structure a cross-border move—but there is one universal truth: you need to clarify ownership. Who’s responsible for what, and when? If that’s not clear in your SOPs, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

 A surprising number of brokers have never even asked their carrier how the transfer works. That’s freight malpractice. Pick up the phone. Ask the question.

You Don’t Need a Mexico Office (Yet), But You Do Need a Mexico Plan

 This question came from the audience and got everyone nodding: Do I need a team in Mexico to be good at Mexico freight?

 Here’s the answer, and it’s freeing: you don’t need a Mexico office on Day 1.

 But you do need a real plan.

 That means:

 Someone on your team owns cross-border

 They’re bilingual or at least carrier-literate

 You have processes in place to cover freight, track it, and escalate issues

 You know who your partners are in Laredo, El Paso, McAllen, and beyond

 Too many brokerages try to “test” Mexico with no one responsible for making it work. That’s like assigning five percent of someone’s time to stand up your most complex mode.

My take: Eventually, you might want boots on the ground. In Monterrey. Or at the border. Or in Mexico City if your freight takes you further south. But you earn the right to open that office by proving there’s real volume—and that you can move it cleanly.

 Start with coverage. Prove you can build trust. Then scale.

The Most Underrated Way to Win: Know Which Lanes to Target

 This one deserves more airtime, because most brokers screw it up.

 They hear “Mexico” and start quoting random spot freight from Guadalajara to Atlanta. But that’s a recipe for frustration.

Here’s the smarter approach:

 Start with repeatable lanes picking up in Monterrey, Juarez, Tijuana, and Reynosa—the four pillars of Mexico’s export engine. These cities are dense with manufacturing. They’re well-connected. They’ve got a reliable carrier base. And they’ve been sending trucks to the U.S. every day for decades.

 Then:

 Map those lanes to your U.S. customer base

 Focus on direct, high-frequency corridors—Reynosa to Dallas, Juarez to Phoenix, Tijuana to San Diego, Monterrey to Laredo or Chicago

 Learn what a good rate looks like. Learn what an on-time pickup looks like. Learn what the carrier base expects

 Freight from Mexico City to Kansas City is very different from freight from Reynosa to Houston. The infrastructure is different. The risk profile is different. And so is the margin potential.

My take: If you’re a broker trying to break in, pick one market and dominate it. Learn the rhythm. Learn the players. Learn what goes wrong. That’s how you build a defensible book. And that’s how you avoid wasting six months on freight that was never winnable to begin with.

Final Thoughts

 This event in Laredo was a perfect reminder of something I think we all forget from time to time: freight is still a people business.

 The technology’s better. The data’s better. The integrations are tighter. But at the end of the day, the difference between a load that moves and a load that sits is still usually who you know and how you work.

 Huge thanks again to:

 Johnny Curiel, for bringing deep strategic perspective from the J.B. Hunt playbook

 Patty Hinojosa, for showing what agile cross-border execution actually looks like

 Troy Ryley, for grounding the panel in experience and clear-eyed honesty

 And to Reliance Partners, for pulling together the kind of event the industry really needs more of

 If you’re a broker or carrier trying to figure out Mexico in 2025, this is the time to go all in. Tariffs, nearshoring, customer demand—it’s all converging. And the brokers who win will be the ones who learn faster than everyone else.

Want more freight-nerdy insights like this in your inbox?

 Subscribe to my newsletter at CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com.

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 We talk cross-border freight, nearshoring trends, freight tech, and how to actually build something useful in this space.


---

## Issue #58: Canada Is Live. Market Rates Are Here. Cargado Just Leveled Up.

**Published:** 2025-06-09  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-58-canada-is-live-market-rates

*Canada coverage is live. Mexico quoting just got smarter. And we’re only getting started.*


From the beginning, Rylan and I had a simple thesis: the way logistics companies operate cross-border freight is unnecessarily complicated.

 We’ve both lived it — working in freight day in and day out, quoting a load out of Monterrey only to hit walls on pricing, carriers, or customs. Every single step of the process was fragmented, slow, and dependent on having a trusted partner in another country.

 So we started building Cargado. Not as a brokerage. Not as a network of reps and phone calls. But as a platform.

 One where you could quote and cover cross-border loads — without having to hire a full team or figure it out from scratch.

 We started with Mexico. And now, we’re doing the same for Canada

 .

Canada cross-border freight is now live 🇨🇦

 Over the past year, we started to see more long-haul lanes between Mexico and Canada moving through our network — typically on high-value freight like auto parts and electronics.

 So we quietly opened up support for that freight. That led to more Canadian carriers joining the platform. That led to more U.S.–Canada freight being requested by customers. And now, it’s official:

 Cargado now supports freight moving between Canada and the U.S. or Mexico, with coverage spanning British Columbia to Newfoundland & Labrador.

 You can:

 Quote and cover freight from Toronto to Minneapolis, Vancouver to Saltillo, Monterrey to Montréal, and more

 Match with carriers already running these lanes

 Support your customers across the entire North American trade corridor

 This isn’t a soft launch — it’s already live, in use, and scaling fast.

Why Canada trade matters more than ever

 In 2023, Mexico surpassed both China and Canada to become the U.S.’s top trading partner — driven by reshoring, diversification away from Asia, and a new era of North American manufacturing. But Canada remains a powerhouse — and critically different in how that trade flows.

U.S.–Mexico:

 $798B in total trade

 The U.S. imports significantly more than it exports

 Most trade is tied to supply chain shifts, not consumption

 Think: assembly, parts, nearshoring, cost optimization

U.S.–Canada:

 $793B in total trade

 Much more balanced two-way trade

 Canada is a consumer and a supplier, especially of raw materials, finished goods, and industrial commodities

 Think: shared production, long-standing economic ties

Mexico–Canada:

 $49B in bilateral trade

 A growing lane for auto, produce, electronics, and textiles

 Often overlooked — but critical for northbound Mexico freight

Top commodities that move cross-border

U.S. ➝ Canada:

 🚗 Automobiles & parts

 💻 Electronics

 🏗 Machinery

 🧴 Plastics

 🩺 Medical equipment

Canada ➝ U.S.:

 🚙 Auto parts & engines

 🥫 Food & beverages

 📦 Paper & wood products

 🛢 Fuel & energy

 🔧 Industrial equipment

Mexico ➝ Canada:

 📺 TVs and electronics

 🍅 Produce

 🚛 Commercial trucks

 🧵 Apparel and textiles

 🔩 Electrical components

 If your customers touch any of these categories, they’re likely shipping into or out of Canada already. Now, you can support that freight — without needing to build a Canada team first.

We built the carrier network before the feature set

 We knew this wouldn’t work if we didn’t get the supply side right. So we started building early.

 Mexican carriers already running into Canada

 Canadian carriers looking for more U.S. and Mexico freight

 U.S. carriers covering cross-border lanes out of Detroit, Buffalo, Laredo, El Paso, and more

 We leveraged the Mexico ↔ Canada freight to prove out demand. Then expanded from there — all without compromising on quality.

Carrier access is free — but exclusive

 A few things you should know:

 The platform is completely free for carriers

 It’s also invite-only

 Carriers must provide three broker references

 We actively monitor performance and remove underperformers

 We don’t charge carriers, so we stay agnostic about who wins a load

 We’re investing in better methods and tools to keep the network safe

 This marketplace only works if people trust it. So we’re building for trust and quality, not just volume.

Cargado Market Rates — real data, not modeled guesses

 We’ve now collected over 40,000 real bids from cross-border carriers using our platform — covering lanes between Mexico, Canada, and the U.S.

 We used that data to build Cargado Market Rates — a tool that gives you:

 Instant cross-border rates, visible right inside the product

 Percentile-based pricing for spot or RFP quoting

 A smarter, faster way to quote with confidence

 Let’s say you need a Dry Van quote from Monterrey to Chattanooga. The tool shows you:

 Market (p50): $3,742

 Low (p25): $3,579

 High (p75): $3,967

 Now your team can build pricing that wins freight — without back-and-forth, and without guessing.

 Market Rates works especially well for Mexico RFPs, where accuracy matters and margin is tight.

We updated our pricing to match how you actually use the product

 Early on, we charged by seat. That didn’t scale.

 So we shifted to usage-based pricing:

 Unlimited users

 Tiers based on freight activity (quotes + postings)

 Market Rates included in all tiers

 Flexible structure that grows as you grow

 No more worrying about logins. You only pay more when you’re doing more.

Where we’re going next

 This isn’t the end — it’s just the inflection point.

 We’re doubling down on:

 Product expansion for quoting, coverage, capacity management, and ops

 Carrier density at the southern border, throughout Mexico, and across Canada

 Integrations to plug Cargado into the rest of your tech stack

 The vision remains the same: help logistics companies operate cross-border freight without friction.

✅ If you’re already using Cargado, here’s what to do this week:

 Post your Canada freight

 Expand into underserved Mexico markets — Tijuana, Mexicali, Juárez, Chihuahua, Reynosa, Matamoros

 Use Market Rates for Mexico quotes and RFPs

 Watch your carrier engagement — we’re seeing record coverage and bid activity

✅ Post your Lanes.

 If you run consistent freight, post the lane — not just the load. You’ll build:

 Dedicated coverage

 Repeat behavior

 Stronger pricing and reliability over time

 Lanes create signal. And signal attracts the right carriers.

 If you’re not on Cargado yet:

 👉 Reach out for a demo at cargado.com.

Quote it. Cover it. Grow the business.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #57: The Board Meeting Playbook for Startups

**Published:** 2025-06-02  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-57-the-board-meeting-playbook

*A practical guide for founders and operators on turning your board meeting into a working session — not a performance.*


The morning after one of our early board meetings at Cargado, I was having breakfast with Brad Svrluga, our lead investor and board member from Primary Venture Partners. He asked me how I thought the meeting went. I gave him my take — mostly positive, a few things we could tighten up.

 Then he said something that stuck with me.

 He told me a board meeting should feel like a really intense workout. Not necessarily fun, but rewarding. One of those grueling sessions where you walk away sore, but with more clarity, sharper focus, and better alignment than when you walked in.

 He was right.

 Because the truth is, most early-stage board meetings don’t feel like that. They feel like theater. Like a quarterly performance review dressed up with pretty charts and a few too many metrics that don’t really matter anymore.

 I’ve been guilty of that myself. Especially during my first company, Forager. We reused deck structures for way too long. Glossed over red flags. Avoided the real conversation.

 But the more experience I’ve had — as a founder, operator, and board member myself — the more I’ve come to realize how powerful a well-run board meeting can be. And how painful it is when you waste the opportunity.

 This issue is a deep dive for founders and operators on what board meetings are really for, how to get the most out of them, and the lessons I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) about how to run them right.

Why Board Meetings Exist

 Most founders assume board meetings are a formality — a box to check every 6–8 weeks to keep investors in the loop. But if you’re only thinking about them as updates, you’re missing their actual purpose.

 Board meetings exist for four core reasons:

1. Governance

 The boring but essential part. You’re a Delaware C-Corp. The board is responsible for approving things like 409As, option pools, fundraising rounds, material contracts, and executive hires. This is what the board legally has to do — and a lot of the action items should be handled in the consent agenda or off the critical path of discussion.

2. Accountability

 You raised money to do specific things. Did you do them? Why or why not? Board meetings are where you report on progress. That doesn’t mean spinning stories or shielding reality. It means being clear about where you are and how you’re doing.

3. Alignment

 Your team, your investors, and your co-founders all bring different experiences and incentives. A good board meeting is where those perspectives get recalibrated around the current state of the business and where it’s going next.

4. Strategy & Feedback

 The best board meetings are working sessions. Not pitch decks. Not TED talks. You’re in a room with smart people who’ve seen hundreds of companies — use them. Come prepared with real decisions to make or hard problems to solve.

The Forager Mistake

 At Forager, I misunderstood what board meetings were for.

 I thought the goal was to get through them. Impress people. Show momentum. Avoid too many questions. So we leaned heavily on presentation polish, slide templates, and safe framing.

 We reused board deck structures quarter after quarter, even when those structures didn’t match the current reality of the business. We’d highlight the metrics that looked okay and skip past the ones that didn’t. We rarely paused to ask: are we even having the right conversation?

 In hindsight, I wish we’d treated those meetings less like performance reviews and more like opportunities to challenge our assumptions and reset our priorities. We had good investors — but we didn’t use them enough.

 That’s changed this time around.

How We Run Board Meetings at Cargado

 The most important rule we follow is simple: no surprises.

 I meet regularly with our investors — especially the ones who sit on our board or serve as observers. They already know where we’re headed, what’s working, and what we’re wrestling with. That way, when the board meeting happens, no one’s caught off guard. If a board meeting is the first time someone hears bad news or sees a major change in strategy, you’ve already lost the room.

 We also treat board meetings as a team sport — not a solo performance by the CEO. The goal is to have real conversations about what matters most. Here’s how we build toward that.

🛠️ Our Board Deck Process: Step by Step

1. Define the purpose

 Start by identifying the 2–3 main reasons for the meeting. What strategic issues, decisions, or challenges do you want the board to weigh in on? That’s the foundation for everything else. Write it down. Share it with your team. Make sure everyone knows what we’re really here to talk about.

2. Build the outline

 Sketch out a rough outline of the deck. You don’t need slides yet — just sections and bullet points. Think about what needs to be communicated, in what order, and why. Include bullets for what you want to say on each slide so you don’t lose the narrative as you go.

3. Brain dump into a shell deck

 Once the outline feels good, I create a shell of the deck with placeholder slides. Then I dump all of my notes, context, and raw data onto each one. It’s messy, but it gets everything on “paper” so you can step back and start shaping the story.

4. Build slides for clarity, not creativity

 Every slide should have a clear takeaway — ideally called out in a dedicated “Key Takeaways” box on the slide itself. Limit yourself to three bullets max. Include supporting data, charts, or visuals only if they reinforce your point. Don’t over-design or over-share. This is not the place to debut new ideas or flashy slide transitions. It’s about clarity.

5. Build it with your team

 Your leadership team should own their sections of the deck. Head of Sales owns sales. Head of Product owns product. But as CEO, your job is to coach, edit, and unify. The narrative needs to hold together — not feel like a patchwork of team updates. Review each section with your leaders and fine-tune the messaging together.

🎯 Choosing the Right Working Topics

 Once you’ve built your shell deck and framed the story, you need to zoom in on the working topics — the parts of the meeting where you’re asking for input, not just giving a report.

 Every good board meeting should include 2–3 of these. Here are some examples we’ve worked through at different stages:

 Pricing changes: Should we move to usage-based pricing? What will the customer impact be? How do we measure success?

 Org design and hiring: Who do we need in seats to get to the next stage? Are we over- or under-hiring in certain functions?

 Fundraising strategy: When should we raise our next round? What does the story look like based on our current plan?

 Customer or GTM challenges: Are we going after the right ICP? Is our messaging landing? Why did churn spike last quarter?

 Product roadmap tradeoffs: What bets are we making in the next 6 months? Where are we cutting scope or shifting timelines?

 Marketplace health: Are supply and demand in balance? Where are the liquidity gaps? Are we solving the right problems for each side?

 The right working topics depend on the kind of company you’re building:

 If you’re in SaaS, your GTM motion and retention strategy are likely top priorities.

 If you’re early-stage, the focus may be team building — key hires, founder bandwidth, org debt.

 If you’re building a marketplace, you’ll be talking about balancing growth between demand and supply — and how product or ops needs to shift.

 If you’re heading into a raise, it’s probably time to talk runway, metrics, and storytelling.

 I still remember our very first board meeting at Cargado — the board pushed me to hire a Chief of Staff. That ultimately led to us hiring both our Head of GTM and our Head of Operations, two of the most critical leaders on our team today. Sometimes the best conversations aren’t about what’s in the deck — they’re about the gaps you’re too close to see on your own.

💼 Advice for Founders

🧠 Prepare like it matters

 Don’t slap together a deck the night before. Give yourself (and your team) time to organize your thinking. Put a draft together early. Write a CEO letter. Think through what’s changed, what’s stuck, and what’s unclear. Help the board see the business through your eyes.

💡 Pick your working topics

 Every meeting should include at least two real conversations. Not fluff. Not “we’re thinking about maybe trying X.” Make the board part of the process. Bring strategic questions you want their input on — and actually listen.

📉 Own the hard stuff

 Your board already knows where things aren’t going great. If you missed on net new ARR, churned customers, or pushed a product launch — say it. Explain why. Share what you’ve learned. Outline the fix. Your honesty builds credibility.

🔁 Evolve the structure

 Your business changes every quarter. So should your board materials. Don’t be afraid to drop old KPIs, add new ones, or totally reframe how you talk about your funnel, org, or growth. Board decks should evolve — just like your product roadmap.

🗣 Coach your team

 If your Head of Product or CRO is presenting, help them prep. Walk through the narrative together. Rehearse. Anticipate questions. Set them up to speak confidently, clearly, and concisely. You’re not just building a business — you’re building executives.

👥 Advice for Operators Presenting to the Board

🎯 Keep it tight

 You don’t need to show everything your team did. This is not a status update. Pick the metrics that matter most and frame them with context and insight. Show up prepared to answer: So what? Why now? What next?

📊 Lead with insight

 Don’t just show the pipeline — walk through the trends. Don’t just show NPS — explain what’s driving it. Don’t just report churn — highlight what you’re doing to address it. Data is just a starting point.

💬 Be real

 You don’t need to spin. In fact, trying to “sell” your section often backfires. Be honest, concise, and direct. Share what’s going well and what you’re working to improve.

🤝 Coordinate with your CEO

 Your section isn’t a standalone update. It’s a chapter in the story of the company. Sync with your CEO and co-presenters so the narrative flows. Make sure the messages are aligned and the metrics support the broader plan.

🧩 Closing Thought

 Your board meeting is not a quarterly performance review. It’s not theater. It’s a workout.

 The kind where you don’t necessarily enjoy every minute of it, but you show up, push through the hard parts, and walk away better for it — clearer, stronger, and more focused on what matters most.

 Whether you’re the founder running the session or an operator presenting for the first time, the mindset is the same:

Prepare like it matters. Be honest about what’s working and what’s not. Ask for help. And then go execute.

 Your company will be stronger for it. And so will you.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #56: Building a Superstar Leadership Team

**Published:** 2025-05-19  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-56-building-a-superstar-leadership

*The best leaders aren’t building their résumés — they’re building something that matters.*


When you’re building a startup — especially one that’s growing fast — you don’t just need good people. You need the right people.

 The kind who aren’t here to pad their résumés.

 The kind who see this not as a stepping stone, but as the main event.

 I’ve been lucky to work with some incredible operators over the years — people who could be sitting pretty with big titles and big paychecks at a well-known company, but instead choose to go deep on building something new, meaningful, and hard.

 That’s what we’re trying to do at Cargado.

 And lately, I’ve been thinking about how rare it is to get a team like that in the same room. It doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by design.

Let’s talk superteams.

 Everyone talks about NBA superteams, but not everyone understands what makes them work.

 (Also, let’s just get this out of the way: Michael Jordan is the GOAT. We don’t need a comment section to settle this. Carry on.)

 Back to superteams. What LeBron did in Miami was revolutionary — not just teaming up with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, but leaving money on the table to make it work. All three took less than max contracts so the team could sign glue guys like Shane Battier, Mike Miller, and Ray Allen — guys who don’t trend on Twitter but hit the shots that win championships.

 The result? Four straight Finals appearances. Two rings. Legacy cemented.

 Kevin Durant pulled a similar move in 2016 with the Warriors. He took $9 million less than market value so the team could keep veterans like Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. That move helped unlock two more titles and made Golden State a dynasty.

 Now look at the Dodgers. Shohei Ohtani just signed a $700 million contract — and deferred $680 million of it so the team could keep building around him. Yoshinobu Yamamoto deferred another $50 million. Mookie Betts gave up guaranteed money to stay in L.A.

 And what happened?

The Dodgers won the World Series in Year One.

 That’s what happens when world-class talent checks their egos at the door and plays for something bigger.

So what does this have to do with startups?

 Everything.

 Founders love to say they’re “building a championship team.” But are you really?

 Are you attracting people who care more about execution than optics?

 Are you hiring teammates who aren’t chasing titles, but chasing outcomes?

 Are you creating a culture where legacy > LinkedIn?

 At Cargado, we’re assembling a team of builders. Not résumé polishers. Not people looking to make a pit stop on their way to a VP title somewhere else. We want people who are all in — on the mission, the team, and the impact.

 Because startups are hard. Freight is harder. And cross-border freight? That’s a full contact sport.

 You don’t build a company like this on vibes. You build it on execution. On trust. On a group of people who could lead anywhere, but choose to lead here — because they want the ring, not just the recognition.

 And that’s the message to both sides of the table:

 If you’re a founder building your leadership team:

 Don’t chase logos. Chase alignment. Hire people who think like owners, not ladder-climbers. Make sure they’re playing the right role at the right time — and that they believe in the win, not just their slice of it.

 And if you’re someone who wants to be a leader at a great company:

 Stop looking for places to park your résumé. Look for a mission you care about. A team worth fighting for. A chance to actually build something — not just manage someone else’s playbook.

 Because at the end of the day:

 The world doesn’t reward potential. It rewards execution.

Rings > résumés.

 And if that hits home for you, well — you already know where to find us.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #55: Building the Mexico Carrier Network of the Future

**Published:** 2025-05-12  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-55-building-the-mexico-carrier

*Why our human-led, tech-enabled approach gives brokers what they need — and carriers what they want.*


If you’ve ever worked in freight brokerage, this will sound familiar:

 You’ve got a load to cover. Time is tight. The instinct kicks in: start calling through a long list of carriers who might do it.

 It makes sense — that’s how it’s always been done. Especially with Mexico freight, where relationships matter and carrier details aren’t sitting in a shared TMS. But after dozens of calls, you’re still not sure if the guy who answered can legally cross the border, has the right equipment, or even wants to go that direction.

 That’s the gap we built Cargado to close.

What brokers actually need

 Brokers need speed, coverage, and confidence.

 You want to post your freight and know it reaches the right carriers — the ones who are vetted, compliant, and interested. You want to stop blasting out messages, chasing replies, and calling around just to end up right back where you started.

 Cargado gives you a better way. You post a load once, and it’s instantly routed to the right set of carriers — the ones who have already told us they want that kind of freight, in that lane, with that trailer type, and through that crossing.

 They see more detail than you’d ever include in a text. No back-and-forth needed. No explaining the same thing five times. Just relevant freight delivered to people who are ready to move it.

What carriers actually want

 Most brokers don’t realize this:

 Carriers hate getting 20 irrelevant load offers a day.

 “Got anything going from Monterrey to Dallas?”

 “Still have that reefer?”

 “Where are your trucks right now?”

 They want freight that fits their business — clear, relevant opportunities from people who understand how Mexico works. Not brokers asking if they take pesos or if they can cross in Brownsville “if Laredo’s full.”

 We’ve talked to thousands of carriers across the border. We’ve built trust by showing up — in person. Our team has onboarded over 900 carriers, representing 124,000 trucks and 354,000 trailers.

 Here’s where they’re based — and where we are too:

Laredo, TX – 3 team members covering Laredo, Brownsville, Pharr, Eagle Pass, and Del Rio

El Paso, TX – 1 full-time carrier partnership manager

San Diego, CA – 2 people focused on Otay Mesa, Calexico and Nogales

 They visit yards. Spend time with owners and dispatchers alike. Sit down with carriers and explain how the platform works. This isn’t some cold email campaign. This is actual relationship-building — backed by tech that makes it useful for brokers.

The old way doesn’t scale

 We understand the instinct to just start calling. We’ve been brokers. But calling through dozens of carriers for every load doesn’t scale when you’re managing a full board.

 And even if it did, it still misses the long tail of carriers who want your freight — but never get the call.

 Cargado fixes that.

 You post once

 The right carriers see it instantly

 They get all the info — no guesswork

 You get faster responses from people who are ready to move

 It’s still about relationships. We’ve just built a better way to match the right people faster.

Why our carrier network is different

 Here’s what we’ve built so far:

900+ carriers

124,000 power units

354,000 trailers

 Lane preferences, documentation, and regional coverage — all mapped

 Vetted and engaged by local teams at the border

 We know what freight brokers need to succeed. And we know what makes carriers say yes to new freight. Cargado is the bridge between the two — without the noise, confusion, or wasted effort.

 We’re not replacing the human side of brokerage. We’re making it more effective.

 If you’re a broker looking to grow in Mexico — or a carrier tired of getting one-line messages from someone you’ve never worked with — let’s talk.

Use Cargado.

 It’s the easiest way to turn Mexico into a competitive advantage.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #54: Why Mexico, and Why Now

**Published:** 2025-05-05  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-54-why-mexico-and-why-now

*Nearshoring is accelerating. If your customers are moving freight in Mexico, you should be too.*


Why Mexico, and Why Now

 There’s a moment that happens with almost every freight broker I talk to.

 They’ve got a good book of business. One or two customers keep asking about Mexico. And they start thinking: We should probably figure this out.

 Then comes the reality check.

 Because Mexico freight is different. You’re dealing with border crossings, customs brokers, asset-based carriers who may or may not answer their phones, a new language, and a totally different rhythm of operations. It’s not something you can fake your way through.

 And yet—getting started doesn’t have to be a multi-year investment. You don’t need to open a Laredo office next week or hire three bilingual reps just to test the waters. You just need a smart way to get moving.

 That’s where Cargado comes in.

 And if you’re wondering why this conversation is suddenly everywhere—why every shipper, every OEM, every sourcing VP is talking about Mexico—the answer is pretty simple: the trade war with China changed the map. Tariffs, geopolitical risk, and supply chain instability have made “Asia-to-U.S.” freight a much harder game to play. Mexico, by contrast, offers geographic proximity, favorable trade agreements, and a labor market that can scale. It’s not just that Mexico is growing. It’s that, outside of maybe Canada, it’s the only place that still feels aligned with the U.S. supply chain’s long-term interests. Nearshoring isn’t a trend anymore. It’s an inevitability. The only question is whether your brokerage is positioned to benefit from it.

 We’ve worked with over 200 freight brokerages of all sizes—including 8 of the top 10 and nearly half of the top 100 in North America. And while some of them were already doing cross-border freight, the majority were just starting. For most, their first Mexico load came through Cargado. They signed up with a specific opportunity in hand—usually brought to them by a customer—and used our network to get that freight covered. From there, we’ve seen many of them dramatically scale their Mexico offerings: new lanes, recurring volumes, door-to-door solutions, and real relationships with carrier partners in Mexico. That growth curve isn’t hypothetical. We’ve watched it happen hundreds of times.

The First Wall: Finding Reliable Capacity

 What we’ve learned from those brokers is that success in Mexico freight doesn’t start with headcount. It starts with access. The carriers you need aren’t on the load boards. They’re not on LinkedIn. And they don’t always have a strong digital presence. In many cases, they’re mid-sized Mexican carriers who’ve been moving cross-border freight for decades, but they’ve built their networks around relationships, not outreach. They move for customers they know. Brokers they trust. And they aren’t interested in being “found” by just anyone.

 That’s the first wall brokers run into—just figuring out who to even call.

Posting Freight That Actually Gets Covered

 With Cargado, you post your freight—whether it’s a one-off load or a committed lane—and we put it in front of the carriers that actually want it. That might sound obvious, but in cross-border, it’s a game-changer.

 We know what lanes each carrier in our network wants to run. We know which regions they serve, where their trucks are based, which types of freight they prefer, and what gets rejected immediately. If your load fits their profile, they see it. If it doesn’t, they don’t. That means you’re not wasting time with misaligned quotes or chasing capacity that was never going to be a fit.

 And because these carriers opted into our platform, they’re not just bidding to bid. They’re actively looking to grow their broker relationships. They want volume. They want consistency. They want to work with brokers who understand that this isn’t just a transactional game.

Cross-Border is Built on Trust, Not Transactions

 Now, to be clear—Cargado isn’t your ops tool. We’re not your TMS. We’re not here to manage tracking, EDI, or automate document flow. And we’re not a traditional load board either. We’re building a marketplace, and that means there’s a lot more coming—including operational tools to help your team manage the complexities of cross-border execution. But for now, our job is simple: connect you with the right carriers, on the right freight, in a network that’s designed to help you succeed.

 What we do offer—right now—is a better way to build relationships. When you get matched with a carrier through Cargado, you’re not just getting a truck. You’re getting a partner. These are carriers who want to help their broker partners win freight and grow their books. They’re not trying to cut you out. They’re trying to build with you.

 The best brokers on our platform understand that. They treat their carriers like long-term collaborators, not disposable capacity. And the carriers reciprocate with reliability, communication, and loyalty. That’s the playbook that works in Mexico. It always has been.

Yes, You’ll Need to Invest—Just Not Yet

 Eventually, if you’re serious about Mexico, you will want to invest further.

 You’ll want bilingual reps. You’ll want people who understand the port dynamics in Laredo and can navigate handoffs at the bridge without creating delays. You’ll want someone who knows which parts of the country need security escorts, and who’s on the hook if something goes wrong.

 That level of experience is essential if you’re going to scale a large, complex book of cross-border business.

 But you don’t need all of that to get started.

 You don’t need to hire ten people or open an office or spin up a special project just to quote a load or test a lane. You just need to be able to offer a competitive price, cover the freight reliably, and prove to your customer that you can make it work. That’s what we give you the ability to do on day one.

Mexico Is Happening With or Without You

 This isn’t a shortcut. You still have to learn the market. You still have to build relationships. But you don’t have to start from scratch.

 We’ve already done the hard part—building the network. And now it’s available to you.

 If you’re thinking about Mexico freight, you’re not too early. You’re probably already behind. But there’s still plenty of opportunity to win.

 Start here: cargado.com

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #53: A Guide to Mexico Freight Liability

**Published:** 2025-04-28  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-53-a-guide-to-mexico-freight

*Understanding the Risks, Insurance Requirements, and Best Practices for Brokers and Shippers to Protect High-Risk Cargo and Navigate Mexico’s Freight Security Challenges*


Understanding liability for freight in Mexico is critical for brokers and shippers navigating cross-border logistics. While cargo insurance is standard practice and required in the United States, the situation changes significantly once freight crosses into Mexico. For freight brokers working closely with shippers, knowing these nuances is key to protecting their customers' interests.

Freight Liability in Mexico: The Basics

 Unlike the U.S., Mexico does not mandate comprehensive cargo insurance. Mexican carriers typically have minimal liability, usually limited to just cents per pound. In practical terms, this liability rarely exceeds around $2,000, placing most risk directly onto the shipper. As a freight broker, it's crucial to clearly communicate this risk to your shipper clients to manage expectations and prevent surprises.

Commodities at Highest Risk

 Freight theft remains a significant concern in Mexico, especially for easily marketable goods. Commodities frequently targeted include:

Consumer Electronics: TVs, laptops, smartphones, and related high-value items.

Alcoholic Beverages: Tequila and mezcal have high resale values, making them prime targets.

Automotive Parts: Tires, rims, and automotive accessories due to ease of resale and difficulty in tracing.

Clothing and Footwear: Popular branded apparel moves swiftly in black market channels.

 Brokers should ensure shippers understand their cargo's vulnerability, enabling strategic insurance and security decisions.

Key Recommendations for Brokers and Shippers

 To mitigate risks, brokers should emphasize the following key recommendations to their shipper clients:

Supplementary Insurance: Use specialized cross-border insurance solutions such as the Borderless Coverage program from Reliance Partners, managed by industry expert Mark Vickers (they just released Cargo Hijacking Hotspots in Mexico: 2025 Trends and Risks).

CTPAT Certification: Choose carriers who are CTPAT certified or collaborate with CTPAT certified partner carriers in Mexico. Platforms like Cargado streamline access to these trusted carriers.

Advanced Tracking: For high-value, high-theft commodities shipping consistently, leverage advanced tracking solutions like Tive to maintain constant visibility.

Security Escorts: Employ security escorts on particularly high-risk routes, notably shipments of tequila out of Guadalajara.

Daylight Travel: Prioritize scheduling shipments during daylight hours. It's crucial to respect driver safety and not compel nighttime travel, even when shipments are urgent.

Bottom Line

 Understanding Mexico's freight liability landscape is essential for brokers supporting shippers with their cross-border operations. Clear communication of risk and adherence to strategic security measures will significantly reduce exposure, ensuring safer and more reliable freight movements through Mexico.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #52: Announcing Cargado’s Series A

**Published:** 2025-04-07  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-52-announcing-cargados-series

*Announcing Our $12M Series A: Building the Future of Cross-Border Freight*


To say the last few months at Cargado have been a rollercoaster would be an understatement. Every few weeks, we’ve anxiously watched to see what the President would announce regarding tariffs. Tariff discussions have shaped our industry since Donald Trump’s first administration updated NAFTA to the USMCA.

 With the latest tariff announcement on April 2nd, reciprocal tariffs were implemented on most countries worldwide — with exceptions for Mexico and Canada. Goods qualifying under USMCA will remain tariff-free, hopefully bringing some much-needed clarity.

 This evolving tariff environment underscored the importance of having partners with deep conviction and are aligned with our vision and mission to modernize cross-border freight. Just over a year ago, before launching the initial iteration of our marketplace, Primary Venture Partners led our $6.8M seed round. Although we still had most of our pre-seed capital remaining, Primary convinced us they could accelerate our growth — and they delivered. Their unparalleled support spanned recruiting, coaching, GTM strategy, and strong board-level guidance. Taking that capital early turned out to be one of our best decisions.

 As our company and momentum grew, we were fortunate to connect with another exceptional partner who shared our deep conviction and brought extensive experience to support our next stage of growth. Late last year, I met Itai Tsiddon and Nick Ellenoff from LGVP. Itai, a former Intelligence Officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, co-founder of Lightricks, and investor in startups like Frame.io (acquired by Adobe for $1.3B), immediately stood out as an operator-turned-investor who genuinely understood our vision. Alongside his partner, Nick—formerly of Insight Partners — they quickly grasped our business and what it would take to reach the next level.

 After several conversations — including enthusiastic feedback from customers (one even asked about investing) — LGVP extended us a term sheet. Just one month later, we closed a $12M Series A financing. In addition to ongoing support from existing investors Primary Venture Partners, Ironspring Ventures, Zenda Capital, and Proeza Ventures, we welcomed Conversion Capital, Assembly Ventures, and Friends & Family Capital onto our cap table.

 Every time you raise capital, as a founder, it’s an opportunity to bring more expertise to the table. With Christian Lawless at Conversion, we saw someone with a really strong GTM background. At Assembly Ventures, Chris Thomas and the team have extensive experience and connections in the automotive space and, given how much automotive ties in with cross-border freight, that made sense. And then John Fogelsong with Friends & Family Capital brings extensive finance experience that will help our team. Some of those areas that you might not think about as a founder, but realize that you will need all of this to scale your business.

 Closing this round amid tariff uncertainties presented unique challenges. Some viewed potential tariffs on Mexico as a tailwind, predicting manufacturers would scrutinize their freight spending more closely — driving increased volumes through Cargado as logistics companies sought cost efficiencies. Others saw it as a headwind, concerned about the impact of uncertainty on investment decisions. Ultimately, we attracted a perfect group of investors who deeply believe in our team, roadmap, and growing network.

 With this funding, we're even better positioned to execute our vision. From day one, we've insisted that Cargado isn't just another load board; it's a collaborative platform for cross-border freight that’s delightful and easy . We have numerous exciting features planned this year, all aimed at enabling logistics and trucking companies to do more business together — and to genuinely enjoy using the tools we've built.

 And yes, this also means we're about to seriously level up our swag game — stay tuned!

 If you're not already using Cargado, you're missing out. Reach out today to schedule a demo.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #51: How Auto Tariffs Will Break More Than They Fix

**Published:** 2025-03-31  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-51-how-auto-tariffs-will-break

*Why a 25% tariff on imported cars could shake the foundations of U.S. supply chains, freight networks, and your grocery bill.*


It’s feeling more and more like Groundhog Day as we approach April and I publish my third tariffs-related post.

 On April 2nd, President Donald Trump is expected to announce a 25% tariff on all passenger vehicles assembled outside the United States. The stated goals?

Bring back American auto jobs

Re-anchor vehicle production inside U.S. borders

 Let’s break that down.

Will this bring back American auto jobs?Possibly — but not like it used to. Relocating production doesn't guarantee large-scale hiring. In many cases, it accelerates automation, which reduces the number of line workers needed and increases demand for technical talent.

Will this re-anchor vehicle production in the U.S.?Final assembly might move back, but critical components — wiring harnesses, electronics, seating systems — will still come from Mexico, Canada, and overseas. You can’t re-anchor something that’s globally intertwined without major disruption.

 Before we dive into the scenarios, here’s what’s coming if this policy holds:Prices will spike. Supply chains will snap. Trucking networks? Buckle up. And when the dust settles, it won’t just be the big guys feeling it — it’ll be your neighbor’s small business, the local dealership, and anyone trying to buy a car that doesn’t cost as much as a college degree.

 So before we dive into scenarios, here’s what’s coming:

 This policy has the potential to:

 Jack up prices on half the cars in America

 Disrupt the carefully balanced trucking networks that keep everything from produce to furniture moving

 Hurt small businesses who rely on stable logistics networks and affordable transportation

 Shake up stock markets and rattle already-fragile supply chains

 Let’s walk through it.

Where Our Cars Actually Come From

 In 2024, cars sold in the United States are assembled in three primary places:

50% in the United States

25% in Mexico and Canada

25% in countries overseas — including Japan, South Korea, Germany, the UK, Italy, Sweden, and China

 So yes — half the cars on U.S. dealer lots will face a 25% price hike overnight if the tariff is implemented.

 But even that oversimplifies things.

North America: One Deeply Entwined Supply Chain

 Cars may be assembled in the U.S., but thousands of parts come from across North America. A wiring harness made in Mexico gets shipped to a U.S. plant. An aluminum cast component comes from Canada. An electronic module might get programmed in Texas but physically built in Chihuahua.

 This isn’t just about final assembly — it’s about a vast, deeply integrated manufacturing network that stretches across borders.

 Most businesses in this ecosystem don’t even realize how much they rely on one another. That seat supplier in Kentucky? They might be waiting on foam produced in Mexico. That stamping plant in Ohio? They’re running dies made in Canada.

 Pull one thread, and the whole system tightens. Hard.

The Three Scenarios

 Let’s assume the tariffs are announced. What happens next depends on what the policy is really meant to do. I see three possible outcomes:

1. It’s a Negotiation Tactic

 Trump might be looking for a headline-making bargaining chip — a way to extract trade concessions from Mexico, Canada, the EU, or China. If so, the tariffs could be short-lived or never fully implemented. Markets get jittery. OEMs make noise. Then things settle.

2. Automakers Shift Final Assembly to the U.S.

 Some OEMs may absorb short-term pain and start relocating final assembly stateside. But this doesn’t solve everything. The vast supplier ecosystem remains global — and the cost of making cars here goes up. Consumers pay more, slowly but steadily.

3. The U.S. Tries to Rebuild the Entire Auto Manufacturing Base

 This is the extreme version: not just assembly, but parts, modules, electronics, metals — all brought back onshore. It would take a decade and hundreds of billions of dollars. And it would still cost consumers more. It would also likely spark retaliation from trading partners.

 Now let’s unpack how this plays out across key groups.

Who Gets Hit the Hardest?

Automakers:

 OEMs with Heavy Overseas or North American Assembly Outside the U.S.:

Volkswagen – Assembles in Mexico (Jetta, Tiguan) and Germany (Golf, ID.7)

Toyota – Japan (Crown, Prius), Mexico (Tacoma)

Honda – Japan (Fit), Mexico (HR-V)

Hyundai/Kia – South Korea (multiple models)

BMW – Germany (3 Series, 5 Series), U.S. (SUVs in Spartanburg)

Mercedes-Benz – Germany (C-Class, E-Class)

Mazda – Japan (Mazda3, CX-5), Mexico (Mazda2)

Nissan – Japan and Mexico

Volvo – Sweden and China

 Even automakers with U.S. plants rely on international production to meet demand. Many models are too small in volume or too expensive to justify duplicating production lines in multiple countries.

The Real Cost of "Made in America"

 If tariffs are imposed, automakers have three options:

Eat the cost (unlikely, unless they want to burn billions in margin)

Raise prices (inevitable)

Move production to the U.S. (long, expensive, and still ends in higher prices)

 Relocating production sounds patriotic, but here’s the rub:

 Building a new assembly plant takes 3–5 years

 Cost per plant: $1B to $8B

 Most new U.S. plants (like Hyundai’s in Georgia or Ford’s BlueOval City in Tennessee) take years to ramp up to full capacity

 And this is just final assembly. What about wiring harnesses, transmissions, seats, or lithium-ion batteries? Many of these components aren’t even manufactured at scale in the U.S.

 So, relocating means also rebuilding a supplier ecosystem. That takes even longer.

Who Pays for It? Spoiler: You.

 Let’s say you’re a middle-income family shopping for a $30,000 sedan.

 If that car was assembled overseas, congrats — it now comes with a $7,500 patriotism surcharge. That’s how you get to $37,500, overnight. If the OEM decides to relocate production, those costs still get passed along — just more slowly.

 By 2030, that same sedan could cost $41,500 as the automaker bakes in:

 CapEx from building new plants

 Higher U.S. labor costs

 More expensive domestic supply chain components

 In 2024, the median U.S. household income was about $70,000. A $41,500 car is nearly 60% of annual income.

But It Doesn't Stop With Cars

 Automotive freight is the bedrock of the U.S. trucking network. This isn't just an international trade story — it hits close to home for trucking companies and drivers across the country. Auto freight keeps lanes moving, schedules predictable, and drivers paid.

 When that freight disappears or gets delayed:

 Keep trucks moving consistently

 Avoid empty miles

 Anchor pricing and driver pay

Trucking companies lose steady volume that keeps their networks balanced

Truck drivers feel the pinch as loads dry up and miles shrink

Rates drop further in an already brutal freight market

Shippers of other goods — like groceries, electronics, and furniture — pay more because the system becomes less efficient**

 I asked ChatGPT (so if these numbers aren't perfect, they're still illustrative):

 If freight costs double because of a collapsed network, a:

 $100 grocery bill becomes $106

 $500 TV becomes $530

 $1,000 couch becomes $1,150

 These are small increases in isolation. But they affect every single household, especially lower-income families.

 And small businesses that rely on cost-effective trucking? They’re the first to feel the squeeze.

What About Jobs?

 Bringing jobs back sounds great — and more manufacturing onshore is a noble goal. But we need to be realistic about what that means.

 Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas and BMW’s Spartanburg plant show us what modern U.S. auto manufacturing looks like: highly automated, technologically advanced, and run by a lean workforce. Ford’s BlueOval City will follow the same model.

 And as my former coworker Harrison Hawthorne — a senior buyer for Production Transportation and Logistics for Volkswagen Group of America — pointed out on LinkedIn (link here), even U.S.-assembled vehicles rely on a complex web of components from outside the country. He also shared a list of 47 models assembled in Mexico and Canada that are now directly in the crosshairs.

 The result? If production does move back, the actual number of new jobs — especially traditional line jobs — will be limited. Those roles will be fewer, more technical, and harder to fill — especially in a labor market where unemployment is already under 4.1%.

The Stock Market Will React — Hard

 The companies affected are not just foreign:

 GM and Ford build extensively in Mexico

 Tesla relies on Chinese battery materials

 Tier 1 suppliers like Bosch, Magna, and ZF have deep footprints in Mexico and Europe

 If these tariffs really land:

 Stock prices fall

 Inflation ticks up

 Wall Street volatility continues

What Happens If OEMs Can't Absorb the Shock?

 Simple: they make fewer cars.

 Inventory dries up

 Used car prices spike (again)

 Consumers delay purchases

 Small suppliers go bankrupt

 And the worst-case scenario? Retaliatory tariffs. Suddenly, U.S.-made vehicles get more expensive in Europe or Asia. Global automakers rethink their investment in America. Fewer jobs, not more.

The Punchline: Be Careful What You Wish For

 If you want more American manufacturing — great. So do I.

 But you don’t get there by slamming the brakes on a deeply integrated North American supply chain that took decades to build.

 This tariff might feel like a political win. But the costs — to consumers, small businesses, truckers, OEMs, suppliers, and the broader economy — are very real, and very high.

 And they’ll show up fast.


---

## Issue #50: Beyond the Headlines: Why Mexico Tariffs Aren’t the End of Cross-Border Freight

**Published:** 2025-03-20  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/beyond-the-headlines-why-mexico-tariffs

*A Strategic Guide to Identifying Tariff-Free Opportunities and Growing Your Mexico Freight Business Under USMCA*


People hear "tariffs" and immediately assume EVERYTHING crossing the southern border is being hit with a 25% tax. Can we slow down for a minute? There's still plenty moving tariff-free under USMCA. Let's break down what's actually going on, why you shouldn't panic, and uncover some freight opportunities along the way.

What's Happening with Tariffs?

 Recently, headlines have been dominated by news about the U.S. imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Mexico. But here's the crucial detail most people overlook: only about 50% of all imports from Mexico actually fall under the USMCA, meaning they remain tariff-free.

So, what's moving tariff-free, and how can your logistics company leverage this?

Commodities Exempt from Tariffs Under USMCA

 Here’s a detailed look at the most common commodities still moving tariff-free across the border:

 🚗 Automobiles and Auto PartsWith stringent regional value content rules, automotive goods meeting USMCA guidelines continue to move freely. Fun fact: Mexico has been manufacturing cars since the 1930s, making it older than your grandpa’s classic pickup. Companies moving these goods:

 General Motors

 Ford

 Magna International

 Nissan

 Volkswagen

 🏭 Industrial MachineryCritical equipment for manufacturing sectors still flows tariff-free. Did you know? Caterpillar opened its first plant in Mexico in 1962—talk about heavy lifting experience. Notable movers:

 Caterpillar

 John Deere

 Cummins

 Siemens

 ABB

 📱 ElectronicsFrom smartphones to household appliances, electronics are largely protected under USMCA rules of origin. Interesting fact: Your new TV probably visited Tijuana before you unboxed it. Companies involved:

 Foxconn

 Flex

 Samsung

 LG Electronics

 Sony

 ✈️ Aerospace & Defense EquipmentAircraft components and defense equipment meeting regional origin requirements continue crossing without additional tariffs. Quick fact: Mexico’s aerospace industry has soared by over 10% annually for the last decade—sky’s the limit! Major players:

 Boeing

 Raytheon

 Honeywell

 Airbus

 Bombardier

 💊 Pharmaceuticals and Medical DevicesEssential medicines and devices are exempt, ensuring uninterrupted supply chains. Here's a healthy tidbit: Mexico is Latin America’s largest exporter of medical devices, keeping operations running smoothly (literally). Key companies:

 Pfizer

 Johnson & Johnson

 Medtronic

 Boston Scientific

 Becton Dickinson

 🧀 Dairy ProductsDairy commodities like milk and cheese meeting USMCA criteria are safe from tariffs (queso crisis averted!). Cheesy joke: What do you call cheese that isn't yours? Nacho cheese—but fortunately, tariff-free cheese still is! Significant movers:

 Nestlé

 Grupo Lala

 Sigma Alimentos

 Alpura

 Danone

 🥩 Meat ProductsBeef, pork, poultry, and other meat items also remain tariff-free. Meaty fact: Mexico exports more beef to the U.S. than any other country — steaking its claim in trade. Key shippers:

 Tyson Foods

 Cargill

 JBS

 Bachoco

 Grupo Bafar

 🥑 Fruits & VeggiesFresh produce, especially avocados, tomatoes, and berries, continues to flow smoothly. Good news: Your avocado toast is safe — for now! Major companies:

 Driscoll's

 Mission Produce

 Del Monte Foods

 Chiquita Brands

 Dole Food Company

 🌽 GrainsCorn, wheat, barley, and other grains produced in compliance with USMCA are untouched by new tariffs. Grainy fact: Mexico is one of the world's top consumers of corn tortillas — no surprise they keep corn flowing tariff-free. Companies to watch:

 ADM

 Bunge

 Gruma

 Cargill

 Grupo Minsa

 👕 Textiles & ApparelYour wardrobe stays affordable thanks to tariff-free textiles and apparel. Fashion fun fact: Mexico produces over 400 million garments annually, keeping your closet stocked and stylish. Key industry names:

 Levi Strauss & Co.

 VF Corporation

 Hanesbrands

 Grupo Kaltex

 Grupo Zaga

Why This Matters to Your Freight Business

 Tariffs create uncertainty, but they also open doors. Understanding exactly what's exempt allows you to proactively reach out to customers moving these protected commodities. Many companies that relied heavily on tariff-impacted goods may shift toward tariff-free options to avoid increased costs. Positioning yourself as the trusted expert in tariff navigation can significantly boost your credibility and market share.

Targeting the Right Customers

 Start by segmenting your customer base. Identify companies within the sectors listed above and prioritize outreach. For instance:

 Automotive suppliers need reliable cross-border partners to maintain just-in-time supply chains.

 Electronics firms require precision and visibility so offer them transparent, tech-driven solutions.

 Agriculture and fresh produce companies prioritize speed and temperature-controlled reliability so demonstrate your capabilities clearly.

Action Steps to Grow Your Mexico Freight Business

Talk to Your Customers: Proactively ask if they're moving commodities exempt from tariffs. Offer guidance and reassurance.

Identify and Secure Capacity: Ensure you have access to reliable and consistent cross-border capacity to meet increased demand.

Differentiate Yourself Through Expertise: Educate customers on USMCA requirements and how to ensure compliance to remain tariff-free.

Leverage Technology: Tools like Cargado can simplify your operational challenges, securing reliable cross-border capacity quickly and efficiently.

 Tariffs don't spell disaster — they offer opportunities for those willing to adapt and specialize.

 Keep calm, freight on, and leverage this insight to drive growth.


---

## Issue #49: The “MCA” of the USMCA

**Published:** 2025-02-24  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-49-the-mca-of-the-usmca

*Bridging Borders: The Flow of Trade Between Mexico and Canada*


I’m writing this from the airport as I get ready to head north, well more east than north, but The North, as they say. We’re heading to Toronto as a couple people from the team join me for a trip to Canada.

 There are several logistics companies and trucking companies in Cargado’s network that are moving freight between Mexico and Canada and are based in Canada. They’re heavily concentrated in Ontario and Quebec, where both provinces play a huge role in North American trade. General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, and Toyota all have plants in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), producing everything from SUVs to electric delivery vans. Companies like Bombardier (aircraft, rail equipment) and BRP (Bombardier Recreational Products—think Ski-Doo, Can-Am, and Sea-Doo), both headquartered in the Montreal area, rely heavily on Mexico for nearby manufacturing.

 I’m excited to spend some time with customers and carriers who are moving cross-border freight and better understand how we can bridge the gap between Mexico and Canada, especially with all these threats of tariffs from the United States hanging over the market.

What kind of freight moves between Mexico and Canada?

 I’ll repeat what I’ve explained before: a lot of U.S. domestic truckload volume is distribution rather than production. Production happens in Mexico and overseas, and goods are shipped into the U.S., where they are then distributed. Canada follows a similar strategy, outsourcing manufacturing to areas where labor costs are lower, like Mexico and Asia.

 Because of shifts in supply chain strategies and nearshoring, a growing volume of freight now moves directly from Mexico to Canada, where it is then distributed. Most of those distribution points end up being Toronto, to service the eastern half of Canada, and Vancouver, to serve the western half of Canada.

Top 5 Products Shipped from Mexico to Canada (by truck)

Automobiles & Auto Parts – Vehicles built in Mexico, as well as parts like engines, transmissions, and electrical components, are shipped straight to Canadian auto plants and dealerships.

Fresh Produce – Avocados, berries, tomatoes, peppers, and other fruits and vegetables move north to keep Canadian grocery stores stocked.

Electronics & Appliances – TVs, refrigerators, dishwashers, and other consumer goods are manufactured in Mexico and shipped to Canadian distribution centers.

Building Materials – Tiles, stone, and construction materials are sent to support Canadian housing and infrastructure projects.

Alcohol (Tequila & Beer) – Mexico’s most famous exports don’t just stay in the U.S., Canadian consumers drive significant demand for tequila and Mexican beer brands.

Top 5 Products Shipped from Canada to Mexico (by truck)

Auto Parts & Machinery – Canada supplies engines, transmissions, and other vehicle components to Mexico’s manufacturing plants.

Industrial Equipment & Heavy Machinery – Equipment used in mining, oil, and industrial applications moves south for use in Mexico’s energy and resource sectors.

Plastics & Packaging Materials – Raw materials used in Mexican manufacturing plants are sourced from Canada.

Paper & Pulp – Canadian paper products and packaging materials supply Mexico’s consumer goods and manufacturing sectors.

Frozen & Processed Food Products – Canada ships a variety of frozen and packaged foods to Mexico, where they are used for retail and food service.

 This freight moves over the road, via rail, and occasionally via air freight when time-sensitive deliveries are required.

What other complexities exist with Mexico <> Canada freight?

 Generally, freight moving between Mexico and Canada moves in bond through the United States. This means that the trucking company responsible for the load — typically the one hauling from the U.S.-Mexico border to the Canadian border — opens a bond and ensures that the freight is transported safely without any product being consumed in the U.S.

 This process allows shippers to avoid U.S. duties and taxes since the freight is just passing through. Think of it like paying a toll: most carriers charge between $150-$250 USD per load for in-bond transportation.

Is it tough to move freight from Mexico to Canada?

 It’s about as challenging as moving freight from Mexico to the United States. Yes, you’re crossing an extra border, you’re dealing with a third culture, and you’re hearing a different accent, but the process itself isn’t all that complicated, especially when you leverage Cargado.

 How could I not shamelessly plug our product?

 I’ll be in Toronto until Thursday. If you’re in town and want to connect, reach out!


---

## Issue #48: Stop freaking out, it’s just a trade war

**Published:** 2025-02-17  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-48-stop-freaking-out-its-just

*Tariffs, Trade Wars, and Why Your Supply Chain Isn’t Moving Overnight*


Alright, everyone. Let’s calm down — it’s just a trade war!

 A few weeks ago, President Trump signed executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada, along with an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports. He had been threatening it for a while, and most of us assumed it was just posturing.

 I was in Monterrey with the team the week of January 27, leading up to the tariffs taking effect. Someone on our team asked me, “What happens to Cargado if these tariffs go through?”

 I told him, “Before we go down any rabbit holes, let’s see what actually happens on Monday.” Based on how things played out during Trump’s first term, this felt like a pressure tactic—something meant to force a negotiation. I was pretty confident we’d have a resolution by Monday morning.

 Well, Monday morning rolled around, and the tariffs were still in place.

 Did freight stop moving? No. Supply chains don’t just pivot overnight. You can’t relocate an entire manufacturing operation in a weekend. Can companies shift to different suppliers? Sure, over time. But immediately? Not really.

 That Sunday morning, I woke up to texts from people in logistics and manufacturing asking what to do. I’ve always focused more on moving freight than on tariffs and duties, but the two are obviously linked. I didn’t have a perfect answer, but I told them it seemed temporary.

 I can’t read the President’s mind, but let’s break this down. The executive order cites illegal immigration and drug trafficking as the reasons for the tariffs. But we also have the USMCA, which was supposed to prevent tariffs between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada.

 I started writing this newsletter over the weekend when it looked like the tariffs were happening. By Monday, Trump had announced a deal with Mexico to avoid them. But that was just a delay—not a cancellation. So let’s tackle some of the most common questions I’ve been getting.

1. Why tariffs?

 There are two likely reasons Trump pulled this move.

 First, there’s the trade deficit. In 2024, $840 billion worth of goods moved between the U.S. and Mexico. The U.S. exported $334 billion to Mexico, while Mexico exported $506 billion to the U.S., leaving a $152 billion trade deficit. Trump has always treated trade deficits as if they mean we’re “losing” to another country — ignoring the fact that the U.S. economy is 16 times the size of Mexico’s. If Mexico could afford to buy more from us, they would.

 Second, and more realistically, Trump wanted Mexico to agree to something. That “something” turned out to be a commitment to send 10,000 troops to the border to curb fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration. But this is likely just the beginning — expect USMCA renegotiations to kick off in the next few months.

2. What happens to trade between the U.S. and Mexico if tariffs on Mexico go into effect?

 It gets messy. Mexico would retaliate with tariffs on U.S. goods.

 Most U.S. exports to Mexico are raw materials sent south for cheaper assembly before being shipped back as finished products. It’s not just Americans buying tons of Mexican goods—it’s an integrated supply chain.

 Now, imagine you’re the VP of Transportation at a major manufacturer or retailer. You just got hit with 25% tariffs, and your CFO calls a leadership meeting. He lays out two options:

 Pass the cost onto consumers — raise prices across the board.

 Push the cost down to suppliers—renegotiate prices with vendors, suppliers, and logistics partners.

 You can only squeeze raw material costs so much. But you can go to your transportation team and demand lower freight costs. That’s where logistics companies will have to step up, reducing price risk and optimizing capacity. More freight will hit Cargado as companies look for cost-effective coverage.

3. What’s going to happen long term with trade between the U.S. and Mexico?

 Not much. North American trade isn’t going anywhere. The U.S. has always had a strong relationship with its neighbors, and major companies have been deeply invested in Mexico for decades.

 Automakers like General Motors, Ford, Stellantis, and Volkswagen have massive manufacturing operations in Mexico. So do Caterpillar, John Deere, Whirlpool, and Honeywell. These companies rely on Mexico for production, not just because of cost savings but because of supply chain efficiencies, proximity to the U.S. market, and access to skilled labor.

 Could they move their operations somewhere else? Maybe, but not anytime soon. Shutting down a factory and relocating production isn’t like flipping a switch—it takes years of planning, billions of dollars in investment, and a reliable labor force in the new location.

 Is this the way most leaders negotiate—throwing out threats on social media? No. Does Trump love using his microphone to drive a deal? Absolutely. He’s setting the stage to renegotiate USMCA again. When the dust settles, the deal will probably look a lot like what we have now, with just enough tweaks for the U.S. to claim a win.

The bottom line.

 This was mostly a pressure play to get Mexico and Canada to concede on something now and set up a USMCA update by the end of 2025. We’ll see how it plays out in the coming months.


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## Issue #47: Freight in the Second Trump Era – Trade, Tech, and Transformation

**Published:** 2025-01-13  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-47-freight-in-the-second-trump

*As Donald Trump prepares to take office for a second time, it’s clear this presidency will look different from his first.*


As Donald Trump prepares to take office for a second time, it’s clear this presidency will look different from his first. The way he ran his campaign — strategically appearing on platforms like The All-In Podcast and The Joe Rogan Experience — felt deliberate and targeted, reaching both traditional and non-traditional audiences. His campaign staffing, cabinet appointments, and outreach to businesses reflect a more measured approach, signaling lessons learned from his 2020 loss.

 This time, Trump’s relationships with businesses also seem to have evolved. He’s engaging with leaders in technology, manufacturing, and logistics in a way that feels more collaborative, perhaps in recognition of their critical roles in shaping the economy. For freight, freight tech, and cross-border logistics, these changes set the stage for what could be one of the most transformative periods in the industry’s history.

 Here’s a deeper look at the three key areas where I anticipate the most significant impacts:

1. Trade Policy and Its Impact on North American Logistics

 Trade policy remains a cornerstone of Trump’s economic agenda, but this time the strategy feels more targeted. With plans for new tariffs on China and potential renegotiations of the USMCA, the administration appears focused on reshaping trade to strengthen North America’s economic ties while further reducing reliance on overseas imports.

Why This Feels Different:

 Trump’s approach to trade policy during his first term was often unpredictable, with sudden tariffs and last-minute negotiations. This time, the administration is signaling a more deliberate effort to rebalance trade relationships, with a clear focus on promoting regional trade.

Key Impacts:

Short-Term Volatility from Tariffs: New tariffs on Chinese imports could spark a surge in freight activity as companies race to import goods ahead of implementation. Once the tariffs take effect, however, we’re likely to see a steep decline in volumes tied to Chinese imports, affecting domestic drayage and long-haul trucking.

Accelerated Nearshoring: A revamped USMCA could fuel nearshoring trends, driving more trade between the U.S., Mexico, and Canada. This creates opportunities for cross-border brokers, carriers, and tech platforms that specialize in simplifying regional logistics.

Border Complexity = Tech Opportunity: Increased trade within North America will add complexity at borders, making technology that streamlines customs and provides end-to-end visibility indispensable.

 For logistics companies, the message is clear: prepare for short-term disruption, but position yourself to capitalize on the long-term opportunities in cross-border trade.

2. Deregulation Fuels Freight Tech and M&A

 Deregulation was a hallmark of Trump’s first term, and this time, the administration seems poised to double down on reducing compliance hurdles for businesses. For freight and freight tech, this shift comes at a time when the industry is already undergoing significant change, creating fertile ground for innovation, investment, and consolidation.

Why This Feels Different:

 During Trump’s first term, deregulation benefited traditional industries like trucking and manufacturing. This time, the freight tech sector is positioned to take full advantage, thanks to years of investment in digital tools and automation. With a more disciplined venture capital market and an emphasis on profitability, the next wave of investment will likely focus on scalable, revenue-generating solutions.

Key Impacts:

VC Reengagement: A more business-friendly environment will likely reignite venture capital interest in freight tech. Investors, however, will be choosier, favoring companies with clear ROI and strong market traction.

M&A Momentum: Deregulation and improving market sentiment could trigger a wave of mergers and acquisitions. Larger players will look to acquire innovative startups, while companies that struggled to scale during the past few years may seek exits.

Industry Shakeout: Not every startup will survive. Companies that raised during the 2020-2022 freight tech boom but failed to deliver results may shut down, creating opportunities for consolidation and talent acquisition.

 For operators and entrepreneurs, this is the moment to demonstrate value, execute effectively, and position your business for growth — whether through scaling independently or exploring strategic partnerships.

3. AI and the David Sacks Effect

 Trump’s appointment of David Sacks as the AI and crypto czar signals a heightened focus on technological innovation, particularly artificial intelligence. For the freight industry, the adoption of AI is no longer optional—it’s becoming central to how companies operate and compete.

Why This Feels Different:

 AI’s role in logistics has grown exponentially in recent years, but with federal support and a national spotlight, its development and adoption are likely to accelerate rapidly. The question now isn’t if AI will transform logistics but how businesses can implement it effectively to gain an edge.

Key Impacts:

Enhanced Efficiency for Brokerages: Freight brokerages are already using AI to automate inbound calls, outbound prospecting, shipment tracking, invoicing, and more. Companies that adopt these tools early will improve productivity and reduce costs.

Increased Funding for AI Solutions: With government backing, freight tech companies specializing in AI are poised to attract significant investment. Expect to see a wave of new tools targeting operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

AI for All Sizes: AI tools are becoming increasingly accessible to businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re a global brokerage or an independent carrier, the key will be integrating AI in ways that align with your strategy and deliver measurable results.

 The freight industry’s future is undeniably tied to AI, and those who embrace its potential will find themselves leading the charge.

Looking Ahead: Transformation Through Adaptation

 Trump’s second term feels like the start of a new chapter — not just for politics but for freight. Trade policies are shifting, deregulation is creating new opportunities, and AI is reshaping how the industry operates. While these changes bring challenges, they also present enormous opportunities for those willing to adapt and invest in the future.

 As sentiment in the market improves, businesses are signaling a readiness to invest in solutions that drive efficiency and scalability. Freight tech is poised to play a central role in this transformation, offering tools to navigate the complexities of cross-border trade, enhance visibility, and unlock new levels of efficiency.

 2025 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for the freight industry. Those who move quickly and strategically will be best positioned to thrive in this evolving landscape.


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## Issue #46: First-Time Founder Fumbles

**Published:** 2024-12-30  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-46-first-time-founder-fumbles

*What interim head coaches and first-time founders have in common—and how to avoid fumbling your leadership debut.*


I wasn’t going to write another newsletter before the end of the year. Things are slow, and I planned to take a couple of weeks off.

 But then the Bears played, and they lost. Again. For the tenth game in a row.

 Thomas Brown, passing-game-coordinator-turned-offensive-coordinator-turned-interim-head-coach, fumbled some play-calling toward the end of the game and made awful decisions around timeouts. It felt like déjà vu after seeing the same issues with Matt Eberflus a few weeks ago.

 As Brown let the clock wind down, sent out his punter, and then burned a timeout before finally sending out Caleb Williams, I started wondering: if I were Thomas Brown, suddenly thrust into the role of head coach with zero prep time, how would I handle it?

 The head coach is responsible for leading the team, sometimes calling plays, deciding when to call timeouts, and when to throw the challenge flag. These responsibilities are unique to the role. If you’ve never done it before, how do you know how to do it for the first time? Do you just say, “Screw it,” and wing it?

 Generally, a first-time head coach hired during the offseason has time to prepare. They can seek advice from mentors or hire experienced support staff. Sometimes that’s a coordinator or a special assistant who helps the coach adjust. But interim head coaches, thrust into the role without warning, rarely have the luxury of surrounding themselves with experience.

 As a founder, you have an advantage: you can build your team intentionally. Your job is to find people with more experience than you and empower them to own their areas of expertise. The best hires don’t just manage—they roll up their sleeves and execute while teaching and eventually delegating.

 It reminds me of my first board meeting, where I had no idea it was my job to call the meeting to order. Call the meeting to order? What does that even mean?

 ChatGPT will tell you it’s about formality and record-keeping: establishing quorum, setting the tone, and ensuring good practice. But no one tells you this until just before—or during—the meeting. Or, in your case, maybe you’re reading this newsletter.

 Once I knew it was a thing, I awkwardly began to call meetings to order, as if I had a gavel to bang on the desk.

 Building a startup is like building a plane mid-flight—a metaphor I’ve used before. You’re duct-taping things together, swapping out engines, and constantly iterating the design. Your job is to keep the plane in the air and avoid crashing.

 The sooner you realize you can’t do it all yourself and start surrounding yourself with the right team, the better your odds of reaching your destination.


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## Issue #45: AI in Freight: The Right Role for Technology

**Published:** 2024-12-16  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-45-ai-in-freight-the-right

*Before diving in, let’s thank our friends at FreightCaviar for the shoutout in this morning’s newsletter about my X debate with my brother, Andrew.*


Before diving in, let’s thank our friends at FreightCaviar for the shoutout in this morning’s newsletter about my X debate with my brother, Andrew. It’s always fun when these conversations spark deeper industry discussions.

 Today, I want to tackle an idea that’s been on my mind: the role of AI in freight and where it makes sense—and where it doesn’t.

Technology’s Longstanding Role in Freight

 Technology has been shaping the freight industry for decades. We’ve seen the introduction of tools and systems that promised to make operations more efficient, but many of these innovations haven’t fundamentally solved the core challenges of moving freight.

 Take phone calls, for example. They’ve always been central to how brokers and carriers communicate. But here’s the problem: even with advances in technology, too many of these phone calls still revolve around outdated systems, messy data, and mismatched expectations.

 The rise of AI agents has been pitched as the next evolution in freight – replacing human phone calls with automated ones. But does that really solve the underlying issues? Or does it just perpetuate an old problem in a slightly different way?

The Right Role for AI in Freight

 AI can—and should—play a significant role in transforming our industry. But the value of AI isn’t in replacing human conversations; it’s in making them more meaningful by eliminating the unnecessary ones. Here’s where AI can truly shine:

Streamlining Repetitive Tasks: AI is great for handling tasks like scheduling, invoicing, or parsing through contracts. These are time-consuming but don’t require the intuition or relationship-building that human interactions provide.

Providing Richer Data: Brokers and carriers alike struggle with fragmented systems and incomplete information. AI can bring together data from different sources, organize it, and surface actionable insights – empowering people to make smarter decisions faster.

Reducing Operational Noise: AI can help eliminate the friction caused by mismatched or irrelevant freight opportunities, ensuring that conversations between brokers and carriers are actually productive.

“Agent! Agent! Agent!” The Intuition Gap

 When it comes to negotiating with drivers or handling complex logistics situations, AI still falls short. Freight isn’t just about data or logistics – it’s about relationships. Drivers want to talk to someone who understands the context of their routes, challenges, and priorities. AI agents don’t yet have the intuition to navigate these nuances, and until they do, they’re more likely to frustrate drivers than help them.

 We’ve all experienced this frustration ourselves. Whether it’s dealing with a chatbot that can’t answer a specific question or being stuck in a loop with an automated call system, the lack of human understanding creates friction. Freight professionals don’t want to deal with the same thing when their livelihoods are on the line.

Better Systems Over More Calls

 The real problem isn’t just about too many phone calls – it’s about the inefficiency and lack of structure behind those calls. Instead of trying to replace human phone conversations with AI, we should focus on building systems that reduce the need for unnecessary calls altogether.

 By improving the way brokers and carriers access and use information, we can make freight conversations more intentional, efficient, and productive. This is where technology can have the biggest impact – not by taking over relationships but by supporting them with better data and tools.

How Cargado Fits In

 At Cargado, we’re solving some of these challenges for cross-border freight. Our load board is designed to simplify how brokers and carriers connect, helping them spend less time on the phone and more time focusing on what matters: moving freight. By leveraging smarter systems and better data, we’re enabling brokers to find trusted carriers quickly and efficiently, while carriers get matched with loads that fit their routes and equipment.

 And this is just the beginning. The cross-border load board is only the first product in a full stack of tools we’re building to improve how the industry collaborates and communicates. Whether it’s enabling seamless coordination or tackling operational inefficiencies, our goal is to make freight simpler and more efficient for everyone involved.

 Will AI factor into this vision? Absolutely. But don’t worry – it won’t be answering phones. It’ll be doing the behind-the-scenes work, like helping us figure out which brokers are putting pineapple on pizza so we can deal with those “trust issues” first.

 Freight is – and always will be – a relationship-driven industry. At Cargado, we’re here to enhance those relationships, not replace them.

 Subscribe now


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## Issue #44: Life in Startup Land

**Published:** 2024-12-09  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-44-life-in-startup-land

*Bean bags.*


Bean bags.

 Kombucha.

 Cold brew on tap.

 Ping pong tables.

 A kegerator with an IPA.

 In-office yoga instructors.

 Patagonia vests with our logo.

 All the things you would expect at a startup. We’ve got none of those things. Well, actually, there might be kombucha at the Industrious we use in Chicago, and I really wish we had cold brew on tap, but we don’t have any of that other stuff.

 There are two questions I get asked consistently when interviewing candidates to join Cargado. I answered the first one last week (Forager vs Cargado), and the other topic that comes up is, what’s our culture like?

 I interpret that question to actually be this one: what’s it like to work at a startup like Cargado?

 Here’s the honest answer: it’s challenging, exciting, sometimes chaotic, and always rewarding. It’s not about bean bags and kombucha (though I wouldn’t mind the cold brew). It’s about the people, the mission, and the work we’re doing together to build something that matters.

 At Cargado, culture isn’t defined by perks or a shiny office space. It’s shaped by our values, the way we solve problems, and how we treat each other. Here’s what it’s like to work here:

1. Ownership Over Everything

 When you’re part of a startup, you own your work. There’s no waiting around for someone else to hand you a perfectly tied bow. If something’s broken, you’re the person fixing it. If there’s a better way to get something done, you’re the one building it. At Cargado, “not my job” isn’t part of the vocabulary (though “not enough coffee” might be).

 Think of it like being a Swiss Army knife – you might have been hired for the corkscrew, but one day you’re also the screwdriver and scissors. It’s not always glamorous, but it’s what makes building a startup exciting and rewarding.

2. A Relentless Focus on the Customer

 Everything we do ties back to the people who pay the bills: our customers. They’re the reason we get up in the morning and sometimes stay up late at night. We’re solving a single, high-impact problem for logistics companies, and we take that responsibility seriously.

 That’s why we don’t just slap features together and call it innovation. We listen. We test. We improve. And when a customer says, “Wow, this made my life easier,” we high-five (virtually or in person, depending on proximity). Because at the end of the day, it’s not about how fancy our code is or how slick the UI looks—it’s about delivering real results.

 Pro tip: we don’t just ship software; we help people ship freight successfully! (Okay, that was cheesy, but it works, right?)

3. A Team That’s in It Together

 Startups are not for lone wolves or glory seekers. At Cargado, we’re more of a pack – an incredibly talented, complementary, and highly motivated pack. When one of us stumbles, the rest of us help them get back up. And when one of us wins, we all celebrate like we just won the freight tech World Series.

 Yes, there are moments when the pressure’s on, and things feel overwhelming. But knowing your team has your back makes it easier to handle. Plus, someone’s always got a dad joke or random trivia fact ready to lighten the mood. For instance: Did you know kombucha was invented in 221 BC? Neither did we. And now it’s in our shared fridge at Industrious. Progress.

4. A Chance to Make an Impact

 At a big company, you’re often a cog in the machine. At a startup, you are the machine – or at least a crucial part of it. Here, you’re not just doing a job; you’re helping shape the company. The work you do today might be the reason we scale to the next level tomorrow.

 It’s a front-row seat to the action. And yes, sometimes it feels like being on a roller coaster in the dark – you’re not totally sure what’s coming next, but you know it’s going to be thrilling. The best part? You’re not just along for the ride; you’re building the track.

5. A Lot of Learning (and Unlearning)

 If you think you’ve got it all figured out, a startup will prove you wrong faster than a bad presentation riddled with transitions at an investor meeting. At Cargado, learning isn’t just encouraged—it’s required. Whether it’s mastering new tools, rethinking old habits, or figuring out why the printer is suddenly in Spanish, there’s always something to learn.

 We don’t expect perfection, but we do expect growth. And that’s not just for new hires. I’m a second-time founder, and I’m still learning every day. Success isn’t about knowing everything – it’s about having the humility to admit when you don’t. (Though knowing where to find cold brew helps too.)

 So, what’s it like to work at Cargado? It’s hard work, but it’s meaningful work. It’s fast-paced, but it’s built on a foundation of trust, collaboration, and a shared sense of humor. We don’t have Patagonia vests with our logo, but we’re tackling really challenging and rewarding problems.

 If that sounds like your kind of culture, maybe you should join us. We’re hiring – and we promise no kombucha brewing skills are required.

P.S.: A few bits of advice around applying & interviewing:

 Read the job description and requirements! We are extremely picky about what’s needed to perform in these roles. If you don’t have the experience, it likely won’t be a fit.

 Constant DMs on LinkedIn don’t work well, I get blown up. Nail your application and you will get a shot!

 Typos are brutal - don’t make them. Triple check your work. If grammar isn’t your strong suit, get Grammarly. Invest in improving your written grammar. And don’t leave spaces between the last word and the punctuation mark! (it shouldn’t look like this ! 🤮)

 Show up on time (if not early) to your interviews and don’t talk the entire time. My dad used to give me this really simple advice for sales calls that I think translates to interviews: shut up and listen.

 Apply here if you’re interested! Cargado Job Board


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## Issue #43: Forager vs Cargado, what’s the difference?

**Published:** 2024-12-02  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-43-forager-vs-cargado-whats

*On a very consistent basis, I regularly get asked about the main differences between Forager and Cargado.*


On a very consistent basis, I regularly get asked about the main differences between Forager and Cargado.

 The short answer? We have a better business model, different customer and ICP, a different team, I’m a different leader, and we’re taking a more focused approach to the problems we’re solving.

The Business Model

 Forager was a freight brokerage. Add “digital” at the front because we had a team of engineers building technology, but we were a brokerage at the end of the day. We took on the price risk and we focused on convincing shippers to let us move their freight while convincing trucking companies to do it for cheaper. We had to deliver on price, service, quality, and so many other things had to go right in order to succeed. We simply tried to perfect too many things all at once, and we tried building tech to do it instead of having people do it.

 For example, we had a customer who paid us $2400 per load to move freight from Monterrey NLE to Dallas TX. We paid a carrier $2100. We kept $300. For that $300, we had to make sure the pickup and delivery appointments were scheduled, we had to negotiate the $2100 rate with the carrier, we needed them to be on time for everything, we needed to talk to the customs brokers on each side of the border, and we needed to get everyone involved and on the same page or something would go wrong. All for $300. We had to do everything and it had to be perfect. Think about how many people it takes to do that well – that doesn’t bode well for your unit economics as a broker.

The Customer / ICP

 At Forager, our target customer was any manufacturer or distributor who moved freight between Mexico and the United States or Canada. We sold them on being purpose-built for cross-border freight, the fact that we had a team of experts who could deliver outstanding service, and that we had a carrier network that enabled us to execute at a cheaper rate than our competition. We also sold them on the fact that we understood the cross-border process better than anyone. It boiled down to Price, Service, and Complexity.

 The person we were calling on at these shippers usually held a very specific role – they were responsible for international transportation. With Cargado, our product helps more people at your given brokerage. First of all, we’re calling on logistics companies, not shippers. And we know that anyone at a logistics company who has had a customer ask about Mexico is likely going to take our phone call. It could be the owner, or a VP or Director or Customer Sales or Carrier Sales, or it could be the budding Mexico leader they recently hired. Anyone who has had a customer ask for Mexico help will jump at the opportunity to leverage our product.

 It’s an easy button for expanding to Mexico, why wouldn’t you use it?

The Team

 Let’s spend some time on the team.

 When I started Forager, I did that with my two best friends. I wanted to partner with people that I could trust and people who could fill gaps that I had. What I found in Jordan and Jessie was two incredibly trustworthy people who were strong in finance and operations, respectively. While those skills are critical to building a business, if you want to build a tech company, you need someone who knows how to build technology!

 When I started Cargado, my first thought was “I need someone incredibly strong at building software because, as much as I love tech, I’m no engineer.” I immediately went looking for a technical co-founder. My friends at GoodShip, Ryan Soskin and David Tsai, were both quick to suggest Rylan Hawkins as a potential co-founder. While I ended up meeting about a dozen potential candidates, it was clear early on that Rylan was the perfect person given his background as the builder and GM of two really unique products at Convoy, Convoy Go and Convoy for Brokers. He and I saw the industry and the potential for improvement in very similar ways and so we partnered up.

 We hired people onto the team based on need – initially engineers, then supply, and, after trying to do a million things on my own, we added a Head of Operations and Head of GTM. Fast forward a year since founding the company and we’re approaching thirty people and have successfully moved away from founder-led sales. But, we only did that after I landed our first fifty customers (I know, I said 100 but it became untenable and we were going to fail on the service side). And of the last fifty customers, I’ve only been involved in three of those deals. The transition makes me feel great about where we are and that we have the right GTM leader building out that function.

Me

 Yes, I’m part of the team but I write this blog so I figured I would write a section about myself. I’ve learned a lot as a leader. When things weren’t going great at Forager, my board pushed me to bring on an executive coach. I hired Molly Rudberg then and she helped me through some incredibly challenging times. She helped me think through how I communicated and showed up as a leader. One key takeaway from those conversations was about intentionality. You absolutely need to be intentional with your time, with what you say, and how you say it. (P.S.: Molly is still my exec coach and works with our leadership team now as well!)

 I learned how to build consensus with the team the right way, how to recruit the right people, and how to bring investors along for the ride. I treated investors like they were adversarial, rather than working with them as a partner. I assumed they were only out for a dollar and didn’t care about helping our business. While there may have been a few investors that fit that description, most wanted to help us succeed and wanted to do so with advance warning. I kept it all to myself and that ultimately nearly killed us. Now, I treat our investors like partners and collaborate with the key ones on a regular basis as we all share a common goal of building something incredibly valuable.

 I’ve also changed as a leader in how I communicate to the team, what my job is, and where I need to stick my hands (or keep them out in a lot of cases). You can read more about my thoughts on Founder Mode if you want. The CEO’s job ultimately boils down to three core tasks that can be summarized by MVP: Money, Vision, People. Your job is to make sure the company has enough money and allocates it properly, set the vision for the company, and make sure we recruit and develop the best people. That concept has still taken some getting used to by our team today, where everyone wants to know about or be involved in everything, but over time, things will fall into place.

A More Focused Approach

 At Forager, we mapped out every aspect of moving a cross-border load and we had features on our roadmap that would solve that problem. One day, we would automate every one of those steps and we would win the industry. We would connect shippers and carriers directly and, voila, magic would happen! Loads would move frictionless, shippers would always be happy and carriers would get the rates they want.

 Then I woke up. And I realized this industry is incapable of allowing something like that to happen. And it makes more sense to start with a more scalable customer base, logistics companies, and solve a single problem for them to start, which is coverage. As we’ve started to solve the coverage challenges, we’ve uncovered other related problems that we believe we can solve as well, through our products and our data. We have been hyper focused on helping brokers convert and cover their cross-border freight and will start working on additional solutions once we nail this first one. At Forager, we tried solving all the problems at the same time.

 I just posted about this but, one of the biggest differences between Forager and Cargado is that, with Forager, we lived and died by the market. If the market tightened up, we saw more freight opportunities but it became harder to procure capacity. We lost money on more freight, or we made less money overall, and we were stressed out even more for less reward. At the beginning of every month, we were back at $0 again. With Cargado, we get to build on each month and continue to accumulate new subscriptions that help fuel our growth even more.


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## Issue #42: A Car-gobble gobble thank you!

**Published:** 2024-11-28  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-42-a-car-gobble-gobble-thank

*Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who reads my newsletter and those in the Cargado community!*


Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who reads my newsletter and those in the Cargado community!

 We hope you’re spending the day with friends, family, and delicious food. We are incredibly grateful for each and every one of you for following along for the journey over the past year. It’s wild to think that on Thanksgiving last year we were a team of 6 people with Figma designs. Fast forward to this year and we have 130+ customers, are live in every city at the southern border, and have onboarded nearly 400 carriers. We absolutely could not have done this without our incredible customers who have helped shape the product and continue to do so every day. They are the reason I am building Cargado into what I know it can become. As a former broker, I am motivated to give everyone the cross-border experience I craved when I was doing the job.

And I feel like we’re just getting started — 2025 is going to be a big year for Cargado.

 We’re going to become more than just a cross-border load board and help logistics companies and trucking companies collaborate well beyond the initial matching interaction.

 We’re catching onto powerful network effects in the year since we’ve launched. We’ve noticed that the more freight that gets posted in Cargado, the more notifications carriers receive, driving them into Cargado more often to bid on freight. We recently spoke with a large carrier who told us that his team only started going into Cargado every single morning when they saw the volume of freight rise. Now, we find them bidding and matching nearly every day. We’re going to keep that going by investing heavily in the carrier network and hiring more team members at the border and in Chicago who will onboard carriers and keep them engaged. Finally, in 2025 we’ll introduce tools that make it easier for brokers and carriers to collaborate with carriers and other people on your team. I can’t share more than that right now but can say the products will be pretty powerful.

 Our Thanksgiving request to you is that you refer any friends to Cargado. It could be brokers who have never moved a cross-border load before (we have Mexico experts who can coach them) to ones who have been in the business for decades. Cargado supports both use cases and we’re always thrilled to get referrals from this incredible community.

 Thank you all again and stay tuned for a post-Thanksgiving update with some additional product features to round out the year.


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## Issue #41: Founder Mode & Defining Success

**Published:** 2024-11-25  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-41-founder-mode-and-defining

*We recently hit several milestones (including sailing past 100 customers) and landed some substantial accounts (getting us to over half of the top 10 brokerages).*


We recently hit several milestones (including sailing past 100 customers) and landed some substantial accounts (getting us to over half of the top 10 brokerages). Nearly forty of the top 100 brokers in North America are using Cargado. We have some incredibly important customers who are involved in some incredibly critical supply chains, and that customer count is growing by the day, which means our support needs to grow too.

 When I first started lining up meetings with brokers to show them designs of our platform, the first few meetings took place on Zoom. Nearly every meeting, the person on the other end ran into delays joining the meeting, always grumbling about how they use Microsoft Teams. So I set up Teams to start scheduling demo calls with prospective brokers and, all of a sudden, we had a very productive thirty minutes instead of twenty-five after five minutes of frustration that caused the meeting to start cold.

 We decided to meet our customers where they were. Getting Teams also enabled us to set up chats with our customers and support them during and after their onboarding in real time. They can ask us anything from how to use the product to when different features are coming to where they should set up an office in Mexico. They get direct access to our team, including Mexico experts like myself.

 What I’ve learned from my time in freight and from the past year of building Cargado is that shippers hold a high bar for service when it comes to their logistics providers. Those logistics companies, our customers, then require their providers and vendors to provide a high level of service, something we can do via Teams, Slack, and WhatsApp.

 Also, please don’t take this as an endorsement of Teams – I still think Slack is a far superior option with the threading and channel structure, but maybe take this as a bit of advice on how to meet your customers where they are.

 The more we invest in the happiness and success of our customers and the carriers in our network, the more our marketplace will grow and the more valuable it becomes to all the participants involved. We envision a very integrated experience in the long run that will only further accelerate those benefits for everyone. This theme sounds familiar because you’ve read about it if you’ve studied marketplaces before.

 When you’re building a marketplace business, in particular a vertically integrated one, and when you can move as fast as we’re moving, you just have to go for it and take the market. Marketplaces are most successful if they can harness the flywheel concept that Amazon made famous.

 The more activity in a marketplace, the better the experience for everyone. As more logistics companies post in Cargado, carriers see more opportunities that they can win and they increase their engagement. Accelerating the flywheel takes a lot of pushing and nudging. The faster things go, the likelier chances you have of something breaking if you aren’t paying attention.

 When you’re a second-time founder, you look at the world differently. I feel fortunate that I can comfortably zoom out from where we are today and try to look around the corner at what’s coming while the rest of the team stays focused on today’s problems. While Forager wasn’t perfect, we went through our fair share of growing pains that feel somewhat similar to what we’re experiencing today. The difference, however, is that our charts aren’t zig zagging up and down, they’re all heading in the right direction. We know there are knobs to turn that will make this business grow faster and we are starting to understand how to adjust those levers.

 What I can see coming around the corner is the growing pains we’re going to experience going from 120 customers to 1,000 customers and beyond that. How do you make sure every customer is happy? How do you make sure your customers who move a few loads a week feel just as important as the customers posting freight on a daily basis? These are all questions that need devoted brain power and resources to really nail at scale.

 I also love that, for the first time, I feel like we can project growth based on a hiring plan. Drop in X number of sales reps, assuming an appropriate conversion rate, and you can see where the numbers will go. We didn’t have that at Forager either. We were just blindly chasing after shippers to try and get freight and we had to execute on a dozen different items to really nail service for each of those customers.

 As I started thinking more about how we’re going to provide that service, it clicked for me that we needed something I had zero experience building – a true customer success function. I’m seeking some of the top success leaders to learn from them and ultimately kick off a search for someone who can roll up their sleeves and keep customer happiness a core part of Cargado’s value proposition.

 All of these things are falling into place at this moment where we’re reaching a tipping point. I’ll share a graphic I shared with our team when I told them that we are reaching that moment where Cargado has the potential to accelerate faster than they’ve ever experienced. In that moment you as a founder realize that you need people who have been there before in order to maximize your success at scale.

 As you’re sitting there looking at teams or functions where you realize that the requisite experience may not be there today, you stick your own hands into it and dive into the weeds. You do it to help your team and, sure, maybe it feels like micromanagement at first. The reality is that you have a vision for how this thing needs to play out and you know what needs to happen. 

 The problem you often run into is that everyone has a level of pride that says that they want to be able to do it themselves. There’s always a tension between the needs of the self and the needs of the greater whole. They want to be able to say that they accomplished solving some incredibly difficult problem and when you hire excellent people you know they could do it. But when a company is growing as quickly as Cargado, you simply don’t have the time to wait to let them do that. And at some point, they realize there’s a much greater opportunity in front of them if they learn to solve that problem faster by working with you, the founder. Deciding which path to pursue just depends on how critical the project is and whether you can afford to let someone learn from failure or learn by watching.

 Founder mode doesn’t mean you turn into a maniac and just do whatever you feel like doing because you’re the founder. And it doesn’t mean you stop doing what you owe the business yourself. You still have to lead at a high level but you can get into the weeds and show the team how to get shit done. Great businesses aren’t built by founders fully staying in their lane – they flex into the spots where they’re needed.


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## Issue #40: Collaboration: The Key to Success Between Brokers and Carriers

**Published:** 2024-10-21  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-40-collaboration-the-key-to

*This industry is built on relationships and doesn't happen without brokers and carriers.*


We’re back after taking off the past month from this newsletter. I’ve been focused on ramping up our three new account executives and supporting all the inbound from last month’s public launch. In the spirit of this week’s Broker-Carrier Summit, I decided to write about collaboration between brokers and carriers.

 One of the most rewarding parts of being in the logistics industry is seeing how collaboration can drive success. In the freight industry, the most successful players aren’t those who try to go it alone but those who work together to build strong, reliable partnerships. This is especially true for brokers and carriers, who rely on each other to ensure freight gets where it needs to go, on time and in full.

 As we head into the Broker-Carrier Summit in Fort Worth, I can’t help but reflect on how critical these partnerships are to our industry. Whether it’s negotiating rates, picking up freight on a Saturday, or handling paperwork at the border, brokers and carriers depend on continuous communication and trust to keep freight moving smoothly. I’m excited to attend this summit because it’s an opportunity for us all to come together, share insights, and strengthen those vital connections.

The Broker-Carrier Dynamic: Built on Trust

 The relationship between brokers and carriers isn’t just transactional; it’s a partnership. Successful brokers understand that their carriers are not just service providers—they’re partners in making sure that shippers’ needs are met. Similarly, carriers recognize that brokers play a crucial role in connecting them with shippers, facilitating deals, and ensuring they have the support they need on the road.

 But this partnership doesn’t happen by accident. It takes open communication, mutual respect, and a commitment to solving problems together. When brokers and carriers work as a team, they can navigate challenges like tight schedules, capacity issues, and even cross-border complexities. It’s not just about moving goods; it’s about building relationships that last.

Cargado’s Role: Bringing Trust and Clarity to Cross-Border Partnerships

 At Cargado, we see our role as enhancing the collaboration between brokers and carriers, especially when it comes to the unique challenges of cross-border Mexico freight. Our strategy is rooted in one simple but powerful concept: trust. We understand that moving goods across borders adds layers of complexity—from customs regulations to navigating different infrastructure and languages. Our mission is to bring clarity, safety, and efficiency to these processes, helping brokers and carriers do business more smoothly and transparently.

 By providing a platform that enables easy communication, streamlined negotiations, and real-time updates, we aim to cut through the noise and make cross-border logistics as simple as possible. We believe that trust is built through transparency and reliability, and we strive to foster that in every connection made on our platform. For carriers, we want to ensure that the opportunities they see are clear, dependable, and safe, so they can focus on doing what they do best—moving freight.

 We also recognize that no single solution can tackle all the challenges in logistics. That’s why we’re excited to collaborate with other tech partners who share our vision of creating a safer, more trustworthy experience for the industry. Whether it’s through fraud prevention, enhanced tracking, or streamlined data integration, we believe that working together with others in the space is key to making the entire logistics ecosystem stronger.

Why Collaboration Matters More Than Ever

 The logistics industry has never been more dynamic than it is today. With shifting market demands, fluctuating fuel prices, and new regulations, the need for reliable, collaborative partnerships between brokers and carriers is at an all-time high. We’ve all seen how quickly things can change—whether it’s a weather event disrupting a route or a last-minute request from a shipper that requires immediate attention. These situations highlight why it’s crucial for brokers and carriers to be aligned and ready to respond together.

 Collaboration also becomes more complex when dealing with cross-border freight, where navigating customs, different regulations, and language barriers adds layers of complexity that require even tighter coordination. It’s one of the reasons I’m particularly passionate about cross-border logistics and why I’m looking forward to discussing it further at the summit.

See You at the Broker-Carrier Summit in Fort Worth

 I’m thrilled to be heading to Fort Worth for the Broker-Carrier Summit this month. This event is a fantastic opportunity for us to come together, learn from each other, and find new ways to collaborate. I’ll be speaking on a panel about cross-border freight, and I’m looking forward to diving into some of the unique challenges and opportunities that come with moving goods across borders.

 If you’re attending the summit, I’d love to connect. Let’s talk about how we can continue to build stronger, more efficient partnerships between brokers and carriers. I believe there’s a lot we can achieve when we work together, and I’m excited to see what ideas come out of this event.

Panel: The Future of Cross-Border Freight

Date & Time: October 24th, 4:45pm

 Thanks for reading! Subscribe to CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com to stay updated on the latest in logistics and cross-border freight.

 Subscribe now


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## Issue #39: What we're building and why

**Published:** 2024-09-23  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-39-what-were-building-and-why

*I've tiptoed around what we're building but we're finally ready to talk about what we're building and why we're building it the way we're building it.*


For the past eleven months, you’ve seen a lot of content from me through this newsletter, on LinkedIn and on X/Twitter. I’ve poured a lot of what I know about moving cross-border freight into all of this content. But as I have hinted at, we at Cargado have been building that knowledge into a product, which we are finally excited to unveil. We stealthily launched the very first version of our product on April 1st, 2024, less than six months after forming the company. Now that we’ve been live for nearly six months, building for over sixty customers who use our platform on a regular basis, we felt it made sense to share more about what we’ve been building and why we’re building it.

Why freight brokerages are here to stay

 To explain why I started Cargado we need to rewind to when I first started Forager. My goal was to build software that would allow shippers and carriers to connect. I thought we could replace the need for traditional freight brokerages. All we had to do was automate the 15 different steps it takes to move a cross-border Mexico load and then, boom, we’d change the industry. To be fair, we were in good company on this thesis with the likes of Convoy, Flexport, and Transfix.

 After spending nearly a decade at Coyote, I felt like I had a really strong understanding of what it takes to build and scale a freight brokerage, and why the great ones stand out from the rest of the pack but I misunderstood a key detail about the industry. At Forager, we spent four years building what ended up being a digital freight brokerage, not this futuristic frictionless freight marketplace.

 See, relationships matter. I know this isn’t a novel concept to anyone who brokers freight, but they are at the center of the industry. It isn’t just about having a load that needs to go from A to B, or from Monterrey NLE to Chattanooga TN; it’s about every little thing that happens outside of the “can you run this load for me” call.

 You can’t automate away the freight brokerage model. You can help the freight brokerage model evolve, though.

 When I met Rylan in late 2023, we immediately connected on the problems we had both experienced in the industry. Rylan had seen the same thing I did, but at Convoy, having founded and led teams for over 7 years there, including Convoy for Brokers. Rylan’s deep product and software development expertise made for the perfect partnership between a longtime freight veteran and a technological expert.

 From our past experiences, we had a vision for what we wanted to build at Cargado. Instead of providing logistics services to shippers ourselves, we felt it was critical to serve those who serve by working instead with the best brokers, 3PLs and forwarders in the industry. We got excited about the idea of creating the first collaborative platform for cross-border logistics, a product that actually elevates the industry. We want to make North American logistics interconnected, dependable, and transparent. Our vision is that brokers and carriers come to Cargado first knowing it’s the most dependable, secure way to get their loads and trucks covered.

What we are building

 Our initial product on our path to an integrated freight experience is an invite-only load board for freight moving into and out of Mexico. Logistics providers (brokers, 3PLs, and forwarders) can post their cross-border freight in Cargado and trucking companies bid on that freight. We help customers book freight faster as the entire negotiation takes place on our platform. Logistics providers and trucking companies can connect safely and online, with an immense amount of transparency. 

 Today, our customers have the ability to post both spot freight and consistent opportunities (such as RFPs or mini-bids, known as “Lanes” in Cargado) from Canada and the US to Mexico, and vice versa. Our customers use Cargado to source ad hoc and consistent capacity and unlock new opportunities. The carrier network as it stands today includes nearly 300 US-based trucking companies, 44,000 trucks and 130,000 trailers, including vans, reefers, flatbeds, stepdecks, RGNs, double drops, and conestogas. The majority are either CTPAT certified or have partner carriers in Mexico who are CTPAT or OEA certified.

 We’ve poured a lot of love into the fine details of this product and the reason is to cut down on all the back and forth and bring significantly better visibility to everyone in the industry.

Collaboration

 Cargado was built by freight experts who know that collaboration is one of the core pillars of the freight industry. When a load is moving from Mexico to the United States, collaboration occurs between three different trucking companies, two customs brokers, multiple facilities, customs agents, and inspections. It takes a lot of people to get freight across the border. Our vision is that each of these parties will eventually be able to collaborate within the Cargado platform - from start to finish.

 We also believe in building our product collaboratively for every person involved in moving a load. We want a broker or carrier’s experience in Cargado to feel natural to the user – to have everything they’d want in a product. When we first started working on Cargado, Rylan put all the designs together in Figma to create  a visual prototype. We immediately took those designs and our founding team of engineers to Laredo in December where we showed them to about fifty different carriers and brokers in Laredo and thereafter. We made adjustments on the fly until it was shaped into what we launched in April. We love the amount of feedback and product requests we’ve gotten from everyone using Cargado and it’s helped shape our roadmap, something we’ll share more about in the future.

 The final major area of collaboration for our team is working with other companies in the industry who will help move the industry forward. We plan to integrate with TMSs to enable brokers to seamlessly post and cover their freight, with plans to integrate with several technology partners who will help us create the safest and most trustworthy experience in the industry.

Fraud, trust, and security

 I see social media posts on a regular basis that harp on double brokering and fraud through the traditional tools that everyone’s been using for the past few decades. I see more of these posts in a week than I’ve seen loads get stolen in Mexico in my entire career. 

 We believe a great load board must play a significant part in preventing fraud and double-brokering. To that end, while our product is free for trucking companies, we are invite-only. This means we rely on referrals, but also meet the owners or senior executives of the companies before they get access. This also means we need to have people on the ground meeting and onboarding carriers in person so we can actually shake hands and see their operation. 

 We aren’t driven by short-term growth metrics or quarterly growth reports which require us to let just anyone on the platform. We know that moving the industry forward, creating a more connected experience and delivering long-term value to our customers will result in much more long-term success. 

How does it work and how much is it?

 If you are a brokerage, 3PL or freight forwarder, go sign up on our website to join the waitlist and get a demo. We don’t currently have public product demos or self-service sign-up as we want to help keep everyone in our marketplace secure.

 It’s $500 per user per month for anyone who wants to post freight. We’re building some really cool stuff that will make this incredibly valuable for every person on your team. We typically preview some future items on our roadmap in these demos so you’ll get to learn more about the future vision on a call.

 If you are a carrier that actively services Mexico, you can sign up through the waitlist and kick off our vetting and onboarding process.

Who does this work best for?

 Literally any logistics company that is moving or wants to move cross-border Mexico freight. We have some of the largest brokerages in the industry using it, including twenty-three of the top one hundred brokerages in the industry. We also have brokerages who had never moved a Mexico load until they signed up for Cargado. They had customers offering them cross-border opportunities but had no idea how to find the carriers to do it.

 We’re really proud of the product we’ve built and, as it continues to grow, the impact we believe our software can have on the industry can be massive. This has been the most fun I’ve ever had in my professional career and, while I’m thrilled to not be brokering freight anymore, I do enjoy living vicariously through all our customers who are growing their Mexico business with Cargado.

Anything else?

 We’re growing rapidly and looking to hire the absolute best talent. If you know of someone who would be a great fit for one of these roles (in particular Border Partnerships Managers and Engineers), please send them our way at jobs@cargado.com.


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## Issue #38: Engineering in Logistics

**Published:** 2024-08-26  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/engineering-in-logistics

*I posted about this last week, but I figured I would double down on my thoughts around hiring.*


I posted about this last week, but I figured I would double down on my thoughts around hiring.

 In the world of rocket ships and roller coasters, otherwise known as startups, attracting top engineering talent is a critical piece of the puzzle. Over the past six years, I’ve had the privilege of building two companies—Forager and now Cargado—and through this journey, I’ve gained invaluable insights into what truly matters to software engineers when they consider joining a startup.

 While I’m not a software engineer myself, leading these companies has given me a front-row seat to understanding the dynamics of what makes an engineering team tick. From conversations with engineers, to observing team dynamics, to seeing what resonates in hiring discussions, I’ve identified a few key factors that repeatedly surface as priorities for engineers evaluating potential opportunities. These aren’t exhaustive by any means, but they capture some of the essential elements that can make or break an engineer’s decision to join a startup.

1. A Clear Vision and Product-Market Fit

 Engineers are problem solvers by nature. They want to work on meaningful challenges, but more importantly, they want to be confident that the problems they’re solving matter. This is where the concept of product-market fit comes into play. Before committing their time and expertise to a company, engineers want to know that the company has a clear plan and that there are real signals of product-market fit.

 At Cargado, we’ve made it a priority to be transparent about our roadmap. We’re not just building features in a vacuum; our direction is informed by the needs of our paying customers who are actively using our product. It’s not uncommon for us to receive requests from users asking us to accelerate the development of certain features because they see the immediate value these features could bring to their operations. This kind of feedback loop is crucial—it not only validates our roadmap but also shows our engineers that their work has a direct impact on real-world users.

 Having a vision is one thing, but having customers who are excited about that vision and willing to pay for it is quite another. It’s this blend of strategic planning and market validation that gives our engineers confidence that they’re working on something that matters.

2. Financial Stability and Backing from Top-Tier Investors

 Startups are inherently risky, and engineers—who often have their pick of opportunities—want to minimize that risk. One of the most effective ways to do that is by ensuring the company is well-funded and financially stable. This not only reassures potential hires but also allows the engineering team to focus on building great products without the constant worry of whether the company will run out of money.

 At Cargado, we’ve been fortunate to raise nearly $10 million from a stellar group of investors, including Primary Venture Partners, Ironspring Ventures, Zenda Capital, Wischoff Ventures, Proeza Ventures, and Sahil Bloom. What’s more, we’ve been prudent with our spending, meaning we still have the majority of that capital in the bank. This financial cushion gives our engineers the peace of mind that they’re joining a company with a strong foundation and the resources to execute on its vision.

3. A Strong Team and Collaborative Culture

 A great product starts with a great team. Our co-founder and CTO, Rylan Hawkins, has done an incredible job assembling a group of engineers who are truly next level. The team brings together a decade of FAANG experience, deep freight tech expertise, and, most importantly, a shared passion for building exceptional software. This isn’t just a group of talented individuals; it’s a cohesive team that thrives on collaboration, open communication, and a culture that fosters learning and growth.

 We value individuality, independence, vulnerability, and trust in everything we do. This approach has helped us build a high-performing team where everyone feels like they have a voice. We’re committed to maintaining and protecting this culture as we grow because we know that it will be critical to our success.

4. Professional Growth Potential

 Career growth is a significant motivator for any engineer. At Cargado, we offer multiple pathways for professional development. Whether you’re looking to deepen your expertise as an individual contributor or aiming to take on a leadership role, there’s room for growth here. We’ve been incredibly thoughtful about our tech stack, choosing modern and widely used technologies like TypeScript, React, NextJS, Postgres, Prisma, and Node. This ensures that our engineers are not only working with relevant tools but also gaining skills that will be valuable in the broader tech industry.

 For those interested in leadership, the growth that Cargado is experiencing is an exciting opportunity. As we expand, there will be more leadership roles available, providing a clear path for those who want to move up the ladder.

5. Solving Interesting and Complex Problems

 Logistics is a complex and dynamic field, far more intricate than it might initially seem. As Steven Wojcio, our engineering lead, noted, when he first entered the logistics industry, he thought it would be a straightforward problem of graph traversal. However, he quickly realized that the reality is far more complicated, with many large pieces of the puzzle still unsolved. The work we do at Cargado involves tackling classic technical challenges around scale and maintainability, but it also delves into the realms of psychology, economics, and linguistics. This blend of disciplines makes the problems we solve not only interesting but also incredibly rewarding.

 Steven also shared that there’s no chance of getting bored at Cargado—there’s always a new challenge around the corner, and solving these challenges is what drives our team.

 Building a successful engineering team is about more than just offering competitive salaries or cool perks. It’s about creating an environment where engineers feel valued, where they can see the impact of their work, and where they have confidence in the company’s direction and stability. At Cargado, we’re committed to fostering this kind of environment, and we’re excited to continue growing our team with engineers who share our passion for innovation and impact.

 A special thanks to Steven for contributing his insights to this discussion. His thoughts and experiences have been invaluable as we continue to build a world-class engineering team.

 If you’re interested in joining us on this journey, check out our open positions and apply to be part of our engineering team here.

 P.S.: Want to know more about the brilliant mind behind our technology? I recently had a great conversation with my co-founder and CTO, Rylan, which I covered in my newsletter. You can read more about it here.


---

## Board Meetings

**Published:** 2024-08-19  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-37-board-meetings

*I remember when building Forager, I had a conversation with our Series A investor right after we closed our financing with his firm.*


I remember when building Forager, I had a conversation with our Series A investor right after we closed our financing with his firm. I told him that I didn’t understand what boards were for. It felt like all we did was spend a week cobbling together 30+ slides with a bunch of graphs on them. Every leader on the team was responsible for assembling their own slides, without much of a strategy for the story we wanted to tell from beginning to end.

 Admittedly, I didn’t know what I was doing and I stubbornly didn’t think a board was useful. Was it the board we had assembled? Was it my lack of experience? I will tell you, our independent board member ended up playing an incredibly crucial role towards the end when things got tough and we had to decide between a few different exit options.

 When things aren’t going well, you dread showing up to that board meeting and going through a bunch of graphs that look more like a heart-rate monitor than a hockey stick. Most of our graphs at Forager were the former.

 As you’ve read from me previously, this time is different. Cargado is a different business from Forager. Different tech, concept, different strategy, different team, (mostly) different investors. Our board meetings have been different, too. They have a purpose. They have intent.

The first Cargado board meeting

 The purpose of the first one we had, after raising our seed round from Primary, was all about getting the board on the same page about what we’re building and how we plan to build it. It took place in Chicago with our new lead investor (Brad and Zach at Primary) and two of our investors from our pre-seed round (Ty at Ironspring and Esteban at Zenda Capital).

 We were only four weeks post-launch of our initial product and had been receiving a ton of mostly positive feedback, with a lot of comments about what else our users wanted to see in the platform. We also talked through a few strategic items like our early challenges of operationalizing our go-to-market process. The board told me that I needed to bring on a Chief of Staff. They mandated it – I needed to spend all of my time on doing the most impactful things only I can do, which included selling, expanding our content strategy, and supporting our product and engineering team.

 Fast forward three months and I ended up hiring a Head of Operations and a head of GTM, which allowed me to focus on doing the things I do the best. That also resulted in an even further evolved board meeting for our second board meeting.

The second Cargado board meeting

 We went into our latest board meeting with an updated perspective from the first one. Our product had only been live for a few weeks when we had our initial board meeting. This time around, it had been live for four months and the growth was there. But we wanted to make a few specific changes to our strategy now that we had four months’ worth of data. We put together the deck and sent it out a few days in advance, with the expectation that the board read most of the content ahead of time. Because we shared the slide deck so far in advance, the team was able to add comments in the deck and have a back-and-forth ahead of time. This allowed us to focus on the absolute most important items in the actual meeting.

 Our GTM slides had the right growth metrics that you want to see at this stage. We were just starting to lay the groundwork for hiring our first two salespeople and outlined those plans. The team pressure-tested our logic around those hires and agreed with the logic to add some additional talent that was needed to support growth in other areas. One of the big discussions, though, centered around shifting from founder-led sales to scalable sales. We’re already starting to see proof points that we can make that transition, but it’ll take time.

 Our product roadmap also had all the key products we know our customers want and need. It’s been designed to help our customers grow their businesses, knowing that we’ll grow alongside them.

 The other topic was something that isn’t existential, but not quite something I can talk about in this newsletter. Suffice to say that we had a key metric we wanted to improve and we spent most of the board meeting discussing this topic. We had prepared different potential paths we could take to drive that metric up, and we walked away from the board meeting united around the strategy we would take.

 For only the second time ever running a board meeting, I left feeling certain that we had complete alignment and a clear strategy going forward for what we want to accomplish. In the two weeks since that board meeting, we’ve taken several steps to see that metric improve, we’ve continued to add new customers and more seats, and we’ve accelerated our timeline for a few key hires that should move the needle even more for us.


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## Issue #36: Back to Laredo and some panel topics

**Published:** 2024-08-05  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-36-back-to-laredo-and-some

*I’m on my way back to Laredo for the 7th Annual Reliance Partners' Modernization of Cross Border Trade, hosted by Mark Vickers, who had started Borderless Coverage originally.*


I’m on my way back to Laredo for the 7th Annual Reliance Partners' Modernization of Cross Border Trade, hosted by Mark Vickers, who had started Borderless Coverage originally. If you didn’t know this, cargo insurance is not required in Mexico the same way it’s required in the United States. It’s up to the beneficial cargo owner to insure the goods while they’re in Mexico and if there’s a claim, the most they can expect a broker or carrier to pay is around $2,000 USD as it’s based on a price per pound, not the value of the load. The only way to really make sure your freight is insured in Mexico is to work with someone like Mark Vickers at Reliance Partners and get yourself set up with Borderless Coverage.

 This is going to be a really big week in Laredo as brokers from all over the US and Mexico head to the number one border city at the southern border to learn and network at the event that’s happening this Tuesday, August 6th. I’ll be involved in two panels, a carrier-focused panel and one focused on technology in cross-border freight.

 For the technology panel, we’ll be diving deep on how technology can improve cross-border logistics. I’m excited to have Miguel Olivo from Zerio join for that discussion, along with one of his customers. We’ll look at the perspective of a shipper and how they think about technology and security in Mexico, and how they think about picking the right vendors to partner with on moving freight from Mexico to the United States. Please reach out if you’ll be attending the event or just look for anyone from our team in our Cargado swag!

Upcoming content

 I’m going to be putting together more educational content that focuses on cross-border freight. For those of you who are craving more education and looking to grow your Mexico business, what are you looking to learn? Send me a message and let me know what you’d like to learn about!


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## Monthly Digest - July

**Published:** 2024-07-29  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-35-monthly-digest-july

*Read on for some Mexico resources and job opportunities with Cargado!*


Well, it’s the end of the month again and it’s time for another monthly digest edition. We’re in the middle of summer, but produce season has already cooled off shipping out of Mexico. We’ve been chugging along at Cargado, adding a ton of customers and new features to our product.

Four-month mark + we’re hiring!

 We’re at the four-month mark of Cargado being live and recently passed forty customers with no signs of slowing down. That means that we’re adding a Customer Success Manager to support the growth. And, given that we have a formula for growth, we’re going to hire two Account Executives as well. If you’re based in Chicago or know someone who is that would be interested in either role, please apply!

 We’re also looking for Border Partnership Managers to engage with everyone based in their respective border cities, so if you’re based in Brownsville, Calexico, El Paso, McAllen, Nogales, or Yuma, you should apply as well!

 We’ve got quite a few roles open and encourage everyone to apply online (as much as I appreciate the direct outreach on LinkedIn, it’s become overwhelming and I can’t respond to every DM), including these roles:

 Business Operations Associate (Chicago, NYC, or Monterrey, MX)

 Senior Software Engineer

 Software Engineer

Market insights

 We spend a lot of time talking to brokers and carriers actively moving cross-border freight and continue to learn more trends in the market.

 Dry van volume out of Mexico is starting to pick up. Carriers are seeing more freight than before but they’re not yet seeing an increase in rates.

 We’re in the midst of building/construction season and that reflects in volume coming out of Mexico as materials and related industrial providers are expected to ship more the rest of this quarter before things slow down toward the end of the year.

 Produce is still slow coming out of Mexico. Reefer carriers are actively seeking out northbound opportunities and will even compete on dry spot freight when they can’t find anything requiring temperature control.

 With produce being slow, meat exports from the United States still seem to be in demand as carriers are being overloaded with requests to move beef, pork, and chicken from the US to Mexico.

Building in Mexico

 I get a lot of requests to help people understand how they can best expand their service offering into Mexico. For US-based carriers who are willing to send their trailers into Mexico, in order to help support growing demand, I would happily introduce them to trustworthy Mexico-based partner carriers with whom they can establish trailer interchange agreements.

 For the brokers looking to expand into Mexico, I’ve written a few posts about the topic and will re-share them here:

Issue #13: The Cross-Border Blueprint

Issue #33: The Cross-Border Blueprint, Part II

Issue #31 (Recap of cross-border-specific posts)

 Several brokers have seen success opening up their Mexico offering by leveraging Cargado so I wouldn’t be doing this newsletter justice if I didn’t make the pitch that, if you either have customers asking for Mexico support or you’re actively moving cross-border freight, it’s time you signed up to leverage our platform. Some of the largest brokers and 3PLs in the entire industry are benefiting from it and you will too.


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## Issue #34: Five themes from a founders summit

**Published:** 2024-07-22  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-34-five-themes-from-a-founders

*I spent most of Sunday at a founders summit that Ezra Galston of Starting Line organized in Chicago.*


I spent most of Sunday at a founders summit that Ezra Galston of Starting Line organized in Chicago. While Cargado is not in Starting Line’s portfolio, Ezra has been an angel investor in both Forager and Cargado and has been an awesome supporter of my entrepreneurial career so far. I was fortunate to have a chance to attend this weekend’s event and meet and learn from some incredible entrepreneurs, operators, and investors.

 Here are five themes I heard that I want to share with other founders and operators:

Hustle non-stop

 We heard from a trio of early operators who had been at DoorDash, Instacart, and WeWork. They talked about what the environment was like at each startup and the theme that rang true throughout the whole conversation was the need to move fast and hustle. If you aren’t willing to grind it out and do whatever it takes to build a startup, then it might not make sense to sign up and work at a startup. There were young people in roles for the first time, potentially new roles that weren’t replicated from other businesses (like the community manager role at WeWork) and you had to just figure it out.

Building for scale

 Building a team that can scale with a rapidly-growing startup can be incredibly difficult. When you hit rocketship speed, hiring seasoned execs – “grey hairs” as most VCs call it – is not a certain path to success. It’s incredibly important to make sure that these seasoned leaders, if you do hire them, are willing to roll up their sleeves and actively do the work themselves. If you hear them asking about hiring VPs and Directors right out of the gate, think twice before hiring that person.

Choose your investors carefully

 Not every VC investor is a great board member. When you’re building a venture-backed startup, you need to be intentional about the investors on your cap table. If you’re building a startup for the first time, you likely haven’t seen what it looks like to scale a great company from the executive level, and you likely haven’t seen the miserable side of the spectrum that most founders want to avoid. The right board member has seen it all and can partner with you to help avoid some of those potential pitfalls.

When you take a call with an investor, you’re fundraising

 Any time you take a call with an investor, you’re pitching them. Whether you have a formal deck or you just casually tell them about your company, it’s a pitch. Don’t take the calls if you aren’t prepared to pitch as the first impressions can be meaningful. And focus on taking meetings with people who can actually write checks.

Great founders sell the vision

 I heard this same concept from a founder, from the three operators, and two venture capitalists: great founders are always selling the vision and setting the tone for the culture of the company. Whether that non-stop hustle manifests itself in a founder doing demos for prospective customers all day long or diving deep into the code themselves, the great founders will grind it out with the team and help them all scale with the business. They make sure every single person on the team understands where the company is going and what the grand vision is. It’s almost an expectation more than a dream that you’re going to achieve that vision and you have to act accordingly to do so.

 If you get an opportunity to attend a founder summit and build relationships with other founders, take advantage of it. It can be an incredibly fun and rewarding experience to spend the day dedicated to good discussion and not staring at your phone, even when news breaks mid-day that rocked everyone’s Sunday.


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## Issue #33: The Cross-Border Blueprint, Part II

**Published:** 2024-07-15  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-33-the-cross-border-blueprint

*Back in February, I wrote Issue #13: The Cross-Border Blueprint, which covered some of the first steps it takes to expand into Mexico.*


Back in February, I wrote Issue #13: The Cross-Border Blueprint, which covered some of the first steps it takes to expand into Mexico. Let’s fast forward to the part where you found your leader to build your Mexico business. It wasn’t easy and it was a tough decision between promoting from within and hiring someone from outside the company. Maybe you even considered buying a brokerage in Mexico to expand more quickly and aggressively.

 You have a few steps to building out the team the right way. My advice is always to do this somewhere in Mexico, ideally Monterrey NLE, which is only three hours from Laredo TX, where 40% of all freight crosses the southern border. The benefits to setting up shop in Monterrey is that you’re likelier to have bicultural talent – people who have spent time or have family in the US given the close proximity to the neighboring country – than you are further south in Mexico, in places like Guadalajara or Mexico City.

 The value of the three-hour drive to Laredo is that most of the customs brokers and carriers you deal with on cross-border freight are going to be based in Laredo. It’s a lot easier and more cost effective to have people driving versus flights from Guadalajara, which have to connect via Mexico City, to Laredo. It also doesn’t hurt to have a physical presence in Laredo and any other border cities where you want to grow your business.

Relationships Matter

 Look, this won’t be a surprising statement: relationships in this industry matter. They matter even more so for cross-border freight. Ask any experienced cross-border logistics leader what it takes to trust a carrier who takes your freight into and out of Mexico and they’ll tell you the same thing, which is that you need to sit down and meet the leadership from the company in person, talk to them face-to-face, and have a few tequilas and/or carajillos.

 I’ve spent a ton of time in Laredo at this point, building relationships across the city. I’m looking forward to doing so in El Paso and other border cities soon. Laredo is such a small town, with approximately 260k people, and most of what you see when you visit is trucking companies, warehouses, and customs brokers. There’s only a handful of options for restaurants, and you’re likely to run into the owners of different trucking companies at Palenque Grill during lunch or at La Republica and Border Foundry for dinner. At some point, someone will send you some shots of tequila at La Republica and that’s really when the night begins.

 If you haven’t been to Laredo yet and you’re investing in cross-border freight, you should consider visiting. Mark Vickers at Reliance Partners (Borderless Coverage) is hosting an event on August 6th and then the Laredo Motor Carriers Association Golf Tournament is September 6th. Both are great opportunities to network and meet cross-border carriers and potential warehousing/cross-dock partners.

Growing a Mexico business

 In order to grow your Mexico business, you need freight, right? So go ask for it. Ask your existing customers if they’re moving freight out of Mexico. It’s likely going to be their biggest headache, even if it’s a smaller portion of their volume. And chances are that they’re actively discussing plans to nearshore – to move their manufacturing from overseas to Mexico.

 If you’re not sure what industries to target, let’s look at a few options:

 Automotive and aerospace

 Chemicals

 Electronics, appliances, semiconductor-related materials

 Machinery

 Oil and gas-related products (like oil rigs – moving specialized freight cross-border can make for some serious ROI)

 Pharmaceutical and healthcare products

 Produce (fruit and vegetables), meat, and dairy products

 Raw materials like plastics, rubber, steel, and aluminum

 Textiles and apparel

 You’ll find that more and more of your customers are manufacturing in Mexico, are buying products from Mexico, or are sending products to Mexico. Supply chains are tightening and becoming more regionalized and nearshoring is going to be a long-term strategy that a lot of manufacturers, retailers, and distributors are going to employ. But it’s not just about sales, you need the execution to back it up. So how do you execute?

Executing on cross-border freight

 When you’re selling a Mexico solution to your customers, you’re selling the operational expertise and strong carrier network. You may have some technology that’s supporting some of that work, whether you built it into your TMS or you’re leveraging Cargado. When it comes to operations, you’re going to need people who can schedule appointments in Mexico, deal with the customs brokers, Mexico carriers, and transfer carriers. You also need people who understand the differences between a B1 driver and a CDL driver, and how trailer interchanges work (Issue #10: How freight gets across the U.S.-Mexico border).

 Your customers, and their facilities and customs brokers are going to demand a lot of details about these cross-border loads and so you’ll need a team of expert operators who can support it. It’s tough to scale that team initially, as you feel like you’re just throwing people at every single account. It’s tough but it’s another reason that you do that in Mexico. And I’ll repeat the value of the proximity to the border – there will be issues that come up and it’ll be easier to resolve if you can meet those people in person and establish relationships. In-person engagement will make it likelier that they’ll actually help you get to a resolution.

Where to start

 That’s a lot of information to digest so where’s the best place to start? Ask your customers. Figure out what freight they’re moving cross-border today and ask for an opportunity to quote their freight. Win their freight. Get Cargado while you’re at it. We recently passed thirty paying customers, with fifteen of the top 100 brokerages. Get to Laredo as soon as you can and set up that office in Monterrey.

 P.S.: one additional way to find cross-border freight is to take a look at the freight you’re picking up or delivering in Laredo TX and ask those customers if you can move their freight all the way into or out of Mexico.

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## Issue #32: ChatGPT and a new name for The Silver Substack

**Published:** 2024-07-08  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-32-chatgpt-and-a-new-name-for

*ChatGPT didn't write this post but I wrote this post about ChatGPT. And we've got a new name for this newsletter.*


Maine

 This last week, I spent my time off in Maine with my wife and son. We went hiking on three different trails, climbing two hills that included rocks larger than any of us that our 3.5-year old was able to climb on his own, which is just insane. The kid loves hiking and wants to go every week. Hilariously, he can’t get down from a jungle gym where he can’t see the ground, but has no issue climbing up a steep hill. Ironically, the photos in this post are from our trip and are not ChatGPT-generated, in spite of what you’re about to read from me.

 It was nice taking the week off and not being stressed about anything freight-related. We spent a couple of days in Portland, Maine before heading to Belfast, Maine, where we stayed at an Airbnb. The majority of our time, we hiked in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island while enjoying the 4th of July parade in nearby Bar Harbor. It was awesome seeing the mini Bison dry van and a mini Bouchard conestoga. Bison’s presence is prominent in Maine because the massive Canadian carrier, Bison, previously acquired the two largest carriers in Maine, Pottles and Hartt.

ChatGPT has its place in content

 It’s no secret that I leverage ChatGPT for the images I use with my newsletter. However, I don’t use it to write the actual content. I’ve used it for research, in the past, mostly for getting data together, and always while checking the underlying references. So I decided to try using it to rewrite my LinkedIn bio. I recently fed all my newsletters into my ChatGPT to get a sense for my writing style and asked it to rewrite my bio in the first person, as if I wrote it.

 It took about thirty iterations to get to the point where it is now (feel free to read it in my profile, I have no shame in admitting that I used ChatGPT to write that). I also wrote and rewrote several sections myself. It felt like one of the most productive writing sessions I’ve ever had, no offense to anyone I’ve written content with in the past!

 What won’t work well is just dumping in something like “give me the top 5 reasons why nearshoring is exploding and where venture-backable technology investments are needed,” where you end up with the same LinkedIn post that I feel like I’ve seen twenty-five times, from freight people to aspiring entrepreneurs from outside the industry to venture capitalists looking to jump into the market, highlighting supply chain resilience, cost efficiency, trade agreements and policies (USMCA), environmental sustainability, and proximity to market. We get it – there’s a ton of opportunity with nearshoring but there’s still so much opportunity in logistics and supply chain overall, whether that’s in Mexico, the U.S., or even Africa.

 As I partnered with ChatGPT to rewrite my LinkedIn bio, we added this section about my experience investing in and advising startups. I learned a lot from my time building Forager and have learned a lot in the past nine months building Cargado and I enjoy passing along those learnings to startups. The ideal intersection is someone really early in the process in a space that I have experience in (like logistics and supply chain) as I’ve been able to be the most helpful in that space, both with my experience and network. If I can help a startup skip six months of bad lessons learned to get to a better spot, I feel great about my contribution to their business.

 One of the startups I’ve had an opportunity to work with is FreshX. Clay Curran and Lance Hackney are building the first marketplace for refrigerated LTL freight in the United States. I’m excited about what they’ve been working on as they spent a few months trying to broker reefer LTL freight before dealing with nightmares from bad paperwork, challenges around pricing, and claims from shipping damages. They decided to bail on brokering the freight and build tools to solve the problems they experienced. It’s been fun to watch them build their company out at such a fast clip and now that they raised institutional capital, I talked to them about some advice that I gave myself and my co-founder, Rylan, about taking on capital. I’ll share those thoughts here:

 It’s not your money, it’s your budget to build the business and generate revenue.

 Just because you have the money doesn’t mean you have to start spending it. Take your time with a plan and make sure you have the right people in place. I know it’s sitting there in your pocket, just burning a hole there, but just leave it until you actually need to start spending more of it. You’ll start to see signs of when it makes sense to ramp up hiring.

 Plan on having the capital last longer than you think you’ll need it to last. Something always goes wrong that takes it longer to hit whatever milestone you need from an investor to fund an eventual next round.

 Yes, it’s amazing to be able to raise money but don’t consider that your milestone and don’t celebrate like you just won the Super Bowl. Keep the expectations with your team that a funding event is necessary but that the excitement should come when you achieve business-related milestones, like landing key customers or getting to profitability.

 Don’t wait until you only have three months of runway before you start raising, start when you have a year remaining so that you actually have leverage and don’t feel under the gun. That means you need a version of an operating plan that shows that money lasting 30-36 months, not just 24 months.

New name

 I’ve purchased some fairly funny domains in the past, nothing crazy or expensive, but I bought one that I’ve thought about, on and off again, to use for my newsletter. I figured I would start by asking ChatGPT to suggest some ideas, while leveraging my experience, writing style, and everything else I’ve dumped into that machine. I got back this initial set of ideas. Seven is hilarious but obnoxious and I don’t love any of the other ones. I’m not trying to write a digital newspaper. See the list below:

 Freight Forward with Matt Silver

 Cross-Border Insights

 The Logistics Lens

 Freight Frontier

 The Forager’s Dispatch

 Silver’s Supply Chain Chronicles

 Borderline Brilliant

 Cargo Chronicles

 Freight Focus with Matt

 The Supply Chain Sentinel

 I’ve never been great with naming things and it wasn’t easy to come up with Cargado. Forager just hit me because it was the nickname I received from a couple UPS executives who had overseen the Coyote acquisition. The nickname came from my ability to generate cross-border truckload opportunities from UPS customers for Coyote, which is why I used the name for my first startup.

 When building Forager, we only ever had one term sheet for each round. We received so many rejections from VCs and it really takes a toll when you get that same feedback, over and over again. Thankfully, building Cargado, this hasn’t been the case. Taking those lessons learned from Forager and focusing on a different ICP has resulted in a totally different experience this time around when it comes to fundraising. This time around, I had to tell investors “no” and they had spent a lot of time doing diligence and researching our company. I thought it would be awesome having multiple term sheets, and it’s not bad, but having to let someone down that believes in your company is not that fun.

 When I was receiving all those rejections during my time building Forager, I kept seeing the same phrase over and over “congrats on all the progress” before a familiar “but we’re going to have to pass for now.” So I decided to buy CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com, thinking I would use it for a newsletter one day. At some point, we’re going to move some of my Mexico-specific educational content over to Cargado.com and the content of this newsletter will shift to a heavier focus on the life of building a startup. So, I figured the new name for this newsletter should be CongratsOnAllTheProgress.com. Check out the new logo / banner below:

 Subscribe now


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## Issue #31: Time off in Maine

**Published:** 2024-07-01  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-31-time-off-in-maine

*I decided to head to Maine with my wife and son and take the week of the 4th off this year.*


I decided to head to Maine with my wife and son and take the week of the 4th off this year. Happy Birthday, America!

 Want to learn more about cross-border freight? Read a few of these issues:

Issue #2: Nearshoring is Booming

Issue #3: Hecho en Mexico / Made in Mexico

Issue #7: A Carta Porte Deep Dive

Issue #8: Security in Mexico

Issue #10: How freight gets across the U.S.-Mexico border

Issue #12: Produce from Mexico

Issue #13: The Cross-Border Blueprint

Issue #15: Cross-Border Complexity

Issue #25: Cross-Border Capacity

 Study up and enjoy if you want to build expertise around the next hot market in North American logistics. If you’re actively moving cross-border freight or if your brokerage is starting to invest in it and you’re not leveraging Cargado yet, you’re falling behind the teams who are using it. Join the waitlist at Cargado.com.


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## Issue #30: Monthly Digest – June

**Published:** 2024-06-24  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-30-monthly-digest-june

*Coyote is being acquired by RXO as we approach the end of Q2.*


We’re coming up on the end of the month and the end of Q2. Summer is finally here and things are getting hot in Chicago, both in terms of the temperatures (it’s been in the 90s!) and M&A, with RXO acquiring Coyote Logistics for just over $1B from UPS. And speaking of M&A, earlier this month, NFI acquired the brokerage unit of Transfix, narrowing the original field of “digital freight brokerages” down to Uber Freight and Loadsmart.

 Back in February, I wrote “Issue #11: The Freight Industry is Changing” about the fact that every brokerage was becoming digitized. Everyone is investing in technology, whether it’s something they built from scratch, something they bought and customized, or they’re using an off-the-shelf TMS. There’s something for most people, although I stand by the fact that most TMSs don’t support Mexico the right way (and no, this is not a lead-up to a story about building a Mexico-focused TMS).

 It’s becoming increasingly clear that you have to pick a path: you can either be a technology company or a service provider (aka logistics company). It’s way too expensive to try doing both unless you’re one of the big guys and have the cash to invest. And even at that size, is your core competency running a profitable brokerage or building software? You can’t be great at both, they’re just too different.

 With how things are evolving, and a lot of people realizing that you can build a more valuable standalone software company than you can trying to build software and eat the service providers at the same time, I’m curious where we’ll see Uber Freight and Loadsmart long-term. Uber Freight manages so much volume that I believe we could eventually see them spun out as a standalone business. However, Uber is all about the movement of people and goods, why wouldn’t moving freight be part of that concept?

RXO + Coyote thoughts

 RXO (#7) acquiring Coyote (#4) will position the combined brokerage as the third largest in the industry. Coyote has built a long-enduring contract-heavy brokerage business that lasted through every major freight cycle over the last eighteen years. It endured the UPS acquisition and mix of cultures. Yet somehow, there are still people there who I remember working with as far back as 2007 when I was an intern.

 Unlike when UPS acquired Coyote but kept it as a separate entity, I imagine RXO is going to fully integrate the business, across every single aspect. It won’t be long before we no longer see the Coyote logo on the Green Exchange from the highway, sitting in non-stop traffic on the way to downtown Chicago. There is likely a ton of everyone’s least favorite M&A term, “synergy”, as these two companies are eventually fully integrated. The combination of those two networks and customer bases with Drew Wilkerson leading the charge and with RXO's newer tech is going to make a big difference.

Mexico Market Update

 Last week, Tropical Storm Alberto took quite a toll on the highway between Monterrey NLE and Nuevo Laredo TAM, impacting capacity and rates out of northern Mexico temporarily.

 Produce season has been calmer than expected, with continued availability in Mexico from refrigerated carriers in the market.

 Dry van volume out of Mexico continues to climb, creating more demand out of Mexico for door-to-door capacity.

Cargado Update

 We’re inching (sprinting?) closer and closer to sharing more about what we’re building at Cargado. We have some of our own internal milestones, mostly product-related, that we want to accomplish before we feel comfortable sharing more. I say sprinting because it’s felt like a sprint since Day One but we have no intention of slowing down.

 If you’re actively moving cross-border freight or want to expand into it but aren’t using Cargado yet, you’re falling behind the teams who are leveraging our software. I’ve seen most brokers pay for their seats within the first few days of using our platform and love seeing people win because of our technology. Reach out and I’ll do the demo myself!

Hiring

We’re hiring for two critical roles, Software Engineers and Border Partnership Managers. The software engineering roles are open to anyone in North America (no overseas, no agencies please) and the Border Partnership Manager roles are open in nearly every border city, including San Diego, Calexico, Nogales, Pharr/McAllen, and Brownsville, along with the corresponding Mexican border cities. Please apply online or reach out if you have any questions!

Upcoming Travel

 Are you based in a border city? If you are, chances are that I’ll be in your town sooner than later. I’m writing this newsletter as I get ready to head to Laredo today with the newest team members from Cargado. We want to get every new hire to Laredo sooner than later so they can experience the epicenter of cross-border freight, where 40% of all cross-border shipments move on a daily basis.

 We’ll also be attending a few events in border cities coming up:

 7th Annual Reliance Partners' Modernization of Cross Border Trade (Laredo, TX) on 8/6/2024

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/7th-annual-reliance-partners-modernization-of-cross-border-trade-tickets-851585704767

 8th Annual LMCA Golf Classic (Laredo, TX) on 9/6/2024

https://www.laredomotorcarriers.com/golf-tournament/

 8th Annual MVT Charity Golf Tournament (El Paso, TX) on 10/4/2024

https://m-v-t.com/mvt-announces-charity-for-the-8th-annual-mvt-charity-golf-tournament/

 If you’re going to be attending, send me a note and we can meet up at these events!


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## Issue #29: Ops Life in Freight

**Published:** 2024-06-17  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-29-ops-life-in-freight

*Operating freight isn't for everyone. I've done the job - I understand what goes into it. Let's dive deep on the topic.*


I brokered freight for seventeen years. In that timeframe, I did almost every job that makes up a freight brokerage, from tracking loads and scheduling appointments to booking carriers and cold-calling shippers to sending invoices and issuing carriers quickpay. Hands down, one of the jobs that required the most brainpower and stress with the least amount of thanks was operating freight.

 The role has a dozen different titles, whether you’re an operations representative, operations coordinator, load coordinator, scheduler, or “ops rep”, it’s a necessary job that doesn’t get enough love or attention. Let’s talk about what goes into doing this job.

 Man, where do we start with this job? Is it getting yelled at by a customer because a truck (that you have ZERO control over) is late? Is it getting yelled at by a carrier rep because the delivery appointment sucks? Is it the twenty-five tabs you have open in your browser or the handful of sticky notes you have strewn about your desk? Maybe it’s that year-old sample of a product you have no intention of consuming that your customer sent to you as a “thanks” for all your hard work.

 Operating freight is a necessary evil. It’s a core part of making freight move, and you can really love the job if you’re working with the right people. But for a lot of operators, it’s not a lovable role. It’s generally treated like less than most of the other roles in the company. People look at it as a stepping stone.

 Operating freight means providing non-stop customer service to manufacturers or distributors (shippers) who pay you to move their freight. These shippers are paying logistics companies to make sure that their freight picks up and delivers on time, every single time. They want their freight delivered without damage and without anything missing. The potential risk of a load being late or missing some of the product could have severe consequences within a company’s supply chain.

 I actually remember a time at Forager where we let something slip for a CPG customer. We allowed a refrigerated load coming out of Mexico to not get delayed on the way to the border, but also ended up dealing with the reefer unit failing and a full claim on the load while in Mexico. As a side note about this claim, just like I talked about in Issue #8, there’s no cargo insurance requirements in Mexico. So the customer not only had a claim they were responsible for, but they weren’t going to be receiving consumable products that they could distribute. I remember this customer telling me that we literally disrupted their supply chain.

 This failure was heavily tied to how we managed things with the carrier. You know who got yelled at? The operations rep who was working on the account. You know who’s fault it was? Not hers. But she was the face of the company to this customer and so that’s who received the reaction.

 Great freight operators take massive amounts of pride in the work that they do and they deserve to be proud. It’s a tough job and usually doesn’t pay as well as sales or leadership roles. There is potential for incredible career advancement if leadership has career-pathing mapped out. You get to experience the days where you save a customer’s day by executing on a critical time-sensitive shipment. But those days get drowned out by getting shredded by a customer for a late truck.

 I get it – it’s not fair the way that freight ops people are treated, by people both internally and externally. I also don’t think it’s fair that most of the work an ops person does is data entry. It’s calling facilities and scheduling appointments that could be done through a better system. It’s copying and pasting information from one spreadsheet to another, or from a spreadsheet to a TMS, or vice versa. It’s sending 15-20 “please advise” follow-up emails when someone doesn’t respond the first three times you ask for an update. It’s getting paid the bare minimum to work 50 hours a week and have to answer emails after hours and on weekends.

 Generally, your ideal ops rep is hyper organized and has great attention to detail. They are great with customers on the phone and can internalize stress and anger from customers to deliver a great service every time. My hope is that, with better technology, these great operations experts can actually focus on their expertise and become problem solvers and relationship managers, rather than doing data entry all day. I have a deep understanding of what it takes to operate freight, especially cross-border freight. At Cargado, we will build tools that will make these jobs easier for operators so that they can focus on maximizing their expertise, rather than spending all day in spreadsheets, email, and WhatsApp.


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## Issue #28: Building the right culture in the freight industry

**Published:** 2024-06-10  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-28-building-the-right-culture

*I had the opportunity to take our two new hires, Julie Castelbaum and Caroline Celis (CC), to the FreightWaves Future of Supply Chain conference in Atlanta last week.*


I had the opportunity to take our two new hires, Julie Castelbaum and Caroline Celis (CC), to the FreightWaves Future of Supply Chain conference in Atlanta last week. Multiple people gave me props for making two female hires, as if that was a weird thing at a tech company. And then I realized that we’re still in the logistics industry, where there are unfortunately far fewer women in leadership positions than there should be.

 I gave an honest answer, which is that I did that intentionally. It wasn’t the first time I made a conscious decision to try and build a diverse leadership team. Obviously much has been written about diversity, and I’m not going to attempt to add to that discourse here. Instead, I can only speak about my philosophy around building teams. For me, it’s essential to foster a culture of psychological safety. This means an environment where each team member can bring their full selves to work, stand for their views, and feel challenged and excited every day. My perspective on how to get there is by hiring people that think uniquely from me, come from different backgrounds and schools of thought, and that add something new to the Cargado team. 

 In our first 6 months of Cargado, we were a team of six dudes and are now slightly more balanced with our two latest hires. Will we ever get to a perfectly balanced team? Unlikely. There’s too many unique roles needed to build a business, and too many arguments to be made about what balanced means to try and say anything is balanced.

 But, we’re going to work hard to build a diverse team and we’re committed to consistent intentionality about it.  We know the value of seeking out talent that brings different perspectives and backgrounds to the table, resulting in new ideas that challenge our own ways of thinking. This isn’t something that gets solved through a few hires but instead will consistently be top of mind in our hiring and company culture decisions.

 And I don’t just think of diversity in background or identity. The same applies to hiring too many people from one company, something we didn’t do a great job of at Forager. We hired a lot of people who had similar freight backgrounds which meant we were all too informed by our past freight experience and didn’t build something truly novel. 

 As a company of 8 (and soon to be 10), it’s something I think about every single day when building a lasting, successful culture at Cargado. If every person who works at Cargado feels like their ideas are heard, they can challenge any hive mind thinking, and that we are consistently introspective about hiring, I’ll feel proud of what we’re creating at Cargado.


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## Issue #27: Sixty Days Post-Launch

**Published:** 2024-06-03  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-27-sixty-days-post-launch

*We've been live for two months and have twenty-two brokers using our software. This one is a review of those last two months and an update about a couple new hires we made.*


We are sixty days post-launch. We have twenty-two brokers/3PLs who are paying to use our software today. What a fun first two months launching a product. Rylan and the engineering team have been incredibly fast to respond to customer feedback and quick to squash bugs. Customers don’t hold back when it comes to feedback. Is every single one happy? No, not yet, we have some work to do. But most are happy and finding value early.

 It’s interesting - this software we’re building is technology I wish I had over the past decade at Coyote, Forager, and Arrive. This would have made my job easier and enabled us to grow a lot faster. We built tech at Forager but we weren’t operating like a pure technology company. We were both a brokerage and a tech company and that culture divide showed at different times. At Cargado, we’re purely focused on building software and don’t have to worry about 2am phone calls about a truck breaking down or the never-ending email threads about a load being crossed with the wrong paperwork.

 Do I miss those headaches? No. I hope we can help reduce them for everyone over time with what we’re building. Will we have our own headaches? Definitely. You have them with any company, whether it’s a startup or mature business, tech company or freight brokerage. We’ve been doing bi-weekly syncs with most of our customers to get feedback, product requests, and update them on new features. We also have direct chat set up with most of our customers, meeting them in Slack, Teams, or WhatsApp.

 This is also the first time I’ve ever sold software. I’m selling into an industry I’ve long been a part of, and selling to people in roles that I’ve previously occupied, so it feels familiar yet a bit foreign. It’s been an interesting ramp so far, learning how to navigate a commercial agreement, selling seats versus capacity and rates.

 I’ve generally felt pretty confident in what I do and have been able to pull from experience but, this was the first time that I couldn’t pull from my own experience as I had never worked at an enterprise SaaS business before. So, we decided to hire someone to take over some of this work. It will enable me to focus on selling and doing everything else a CEO is supposed to be doing. Candidly, my schedule has also been packed. Who knew how many brokers existed that have a cross-border service or are trying to expand into Mexico!?

 When you reach an inflection point where you’re seeing the traction that we’re seeing, you have to take advice seriously from your investors. In this case, mine were telling me that I needed to bring on support to take on a lot of the operations that support the business, and to start looking at scaling our GTM function. And so we made two incredible hires who started today, Caroline Celis (CC) as our Head of Go-To-Market and Julie Castelbaum as our Head of Operations. They both bring incredible experience that you can see more about in the image below! I’m relieved and excited to have the two of them on board and to spend the next few days with them in Atlanta at the FreightWaves Future of Supply Chain conference.


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## Monthly Digest – May

**Published:** 2024-05-28  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-26-monthly-digest-may

*After essentially writing a long-form newsletter every week, I decided to try something different with more of a digest format for this week. Turns out this one is still long.*


Last week in Laredo and Eagle Pass

 I spent most of the last week at the US-Mexico border, mostly in Laredo, with a few hours in Eagle Pass, which is a two-hour drive northwest of Laredo. We attended the 4th annual Port of Eagle Pass Trade Summit, where I ran into a few industry friends, including Noi Mahoney at FreightWaves, who covered his visit in his weekly Borderlands writeup. Eagle Pass is a very small town compared to even Laredo, as it ranks #12 out of 14 commercial border crossing cities, but was also the fastest growing border city in the US when you compare Q1 2023 to Q1 2024.

 Fun fact about Eagle Pass: Corona and Modelo are both made just across the border from Eagle Pass, TX, in Nava, COA, at Constellation Brand’s brewery.

 Second (and heavily related to the first) fun fact about Eagle Pass: Hops and beer make up the two of the highest traded goods that move through this border city.

 Most of our time spent in Laredo was meeting with carriers who have been engaging with our platform in the first six weeks that it’s been live. We’re learning quickly by going and meeting with users early and asking them the right questions. While meeting with carriers, we revisited some of the key decisions that go into a carrier’s strategy for how they operate. I’ve talked about how carriers operate in the past, if you want to read Issue #22: Put on your carrier sales hat, shirt, and pants. We spent some time talking about their networks and the market and how those two things intersect.

Mexico Market Update

 Before I share some of the market takeaways from the conversation, I wanted to share this map of Mexico and highlight something that’s core to how freight moves from Mexico to the United States. Over forty percent of all freight moving across the US-Mexico border moves through Laredo TX. That volume is generally starting or ending in one of four major markets that, collectively, make up the Golden Triangle in Mexico: Monterrey / Saltillo, Guadalajara, Mexico City / Puebla, and el Bajio, which is in the center of those markets. You can see it laid out in this map:

 We’re getting into that part of the year where Mexico volume could start to pick up. I’ll share a few takeaways from the Laredo trip below:

 Most cross-border carriers prefer freight out of Monterrey, NLE and Ramos Arizpe / Saltillo, COA. It’s only 155mi and 205mi, respectively, south of Laredo TX, the highest volume port in all of North America.

 Mexico City is over 700mi south of Laredo and, while there’s a ton of demand out of that area, less carriers are willing to service it. There just isn’t enough volume moving to southern Mexico that will help move equipment that far south. Instead, logistics providers and shippers are forced to pay carriers to deadhead from their next closest terminals, either in Monterrey or el Bajio, which drastically drives rates up. Combine the distance and lack of volume with security concerns in the area, and you’re going to see limited supply from carriers and increased rates.

 Bottom line, between Monterrey and Mexico City, carriers have a strong preference toward moving freight out of northern Mexico as it’s simpler and safer. They will move freight out of Mexico City and the surround areas, like Edo Mex, Tlaxcala, Hidalgo, and Puebla, but it’ll cost you.

 Some carriers will service Guadalajara but only if they have the right partner carrier who already services it.  They won’t go out of their way to pickup in the area given the limited commodities that ship out of there, along with the high value with freight like tequila and electronics.

 Once in a while, you run into those carriers who do like moving freight out of southern Mexico, and when I say southern, I mean as far south as you can get. They’ll pick up in Chiapas, Quintana Roo, and Michoacan. While most carriers don’t get that far south, some do. It may be worth a deeper dive in a future newsletter, covering how those carriers service markets like that.

 Produce season also seems to be picking up as refrigerated capacity is tightening up too (read more about produce in Issue #12: Produce from Mexico).

Building in Mexico Tip of the Week

 There’s so much that goes into expanding a service offering into Mexico as a US-based logistics provider. I went into detail on this in Issue #13: The Cross-Border Blueprint but I get so many questions about how to execute on a strategy like this.

 I’ll share a key tip that I think a lot of people overlook, and some people will disagree with: establish a physical footprint in Monterrey, NLE. Yes, I think a presence in el Bajio and Mexico City can and will have value, but, if I were going to build anywhere in Mexico today, it would be Monterrey. It’s only three hours away from Laredo, where most customs brokers and carriers are located, and it’s where you’re going to find the most bicultural talent. It’s getting more expensive than other areas of Mexico, but it’s worth the investment to start in this critically important city. It’s easy to get to from most major cities in the US and there’s flights from Monterrey to every other major city in Mexico.

 When you think about eventually building out that sales footprint, I would have a combination of in-office sales and boots on the ground. Your shipper customers want to meet their suppliers in person in Mexico and, having people strategically located in major manufacturing hubs like Tijuana, Mexicali, Juarez, Chihuahua, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Reynosa, and Matamoros is ultimately how you can get a true sales advantage. Just my two cents.

Building in Public

 I’ve talked in the past about how I would aim to get to one hundred customers before hiring any sales people. I’ve been adamant about that. My schedule has turned into a nightmare as I spend most of my day doing demos and have also started setting up regular check-in calls with our earliest customers to keep the feedback loop tight.

 Recently, my board pushed me to think about bringing on sales support sooner. While we aren’t hiring a salesperson yet, we’re hiring some incredible operators who are going to help dramatically accelerate our GTM and operations functions and position us to better scale. I imagine we’ll end up bringing on our first account manager or account executive sooner than later, as that’s what makes the most sense for the business. Rather than me trying to handle every single sales call, we’re going to turn that into a repeatable motion and hopefully accelerate growth even more.

More content is coming

 I’m committed to a weekly newsletter and am always open to covering other topics within freight or entrepreneurship. If there’s something you’re interested in learning more about, send me back a note and let me know what you would find interesting. Who knows, at some point I’ll even talk about what we’ve been building this whole time at Cargado.

 Speaking of Cargado, if you’re actively moving cross-border freight and aren’t leveraging our platform, you’re missing out. Join the waitlist to get a demo and I’ll show it to you myself!


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## Issue #25: Cross-Border Capacity

**Published:** 2024-05-20  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-25-cross-border-capacity

*Carriers that service Mexico aren’t your average carrier. In fact, some cross-border carriers don’t let their trucks cross the border, just their trailers.*


You’ve heard it before but I’ll say it again: cross-border freight is complicated (Issue #15: Cross-Border Complexity).

 It isn’t just complicated because of the multiple languages, cultures, customs brokers, a border, and the whole “black hole” situation that everyone experiences when it comes to tracking freight in Mexico.

 You see, trucking companies that service Mexico typically send their trailers into Mexico, but not their drivers or tractors. Well, kind of. The trucks may cross the border, but if they do, they typically won’t go further than the Mexican border city (I covered these different setups in Issue #10: How freight gets across the U.S.-Mexico border).

 Carriers who service Mexico typically have a unique setup to how they operate, which boils down to a few key items:

Tractor-to-trailer ratio

 Most US- and Canada-based carriers that service Mexico have three trailers for every tractor, if not more than that. Freight can take 1-3 days on average to cross the border, with some cases stretching to 12-15 days in some of the worst cases I’ve seen. If you have a 1:1 ratio and you send your trailers into Mexico, you’re going to have drivers sitting at the border for days, with nothing to do.

 Let’s say a southbound load is going to Guadalajara, JAL, which is about 635 miles southwest of Laredo, TX. On Monday, the driver who picked up the load in the U.S. drops the trailer off in Laredo. The customs broker begins the clearance process and, once the paperwork is ready and we have a green light, a transfer carrier will take that trailer across the border.

 The freight gets cleared for crossing on Wednesday afternoon. Once it crosses and clears Mexican customs, as well as any inspections that Mexico requires for product entering the country, a Mexican driver is going to take that trailer to the delivery in Guadalajara, some 12-14 hours later. That trailer might arrive Friday, but may have to go to the carrier’s yard in Guadalajara and then deliver on Monday morning.

 Monday, the trailer is empty, finally. Later that day, or the next day, the trailer is reloaded with an export shipment, heading back to Laredo. So, the earliest we’re going to see this truck in Nuevo Laredo TAM is Tuesday afternoon, but more likely Wednesday or Thursday morning. As a point of reference, the trailer was dropped in Laredo originally 9-10 days ago and the driver is still sitting in Laredo, just twiddling his thumbs.

 It takes 5-10 days, at least, for most trailers to turn around after being sent into Mexico and so that’s why carriers who service Mexico need at least a 3:1 trailer-to-tractor ratio. While it’s more expensive to own or lease those additional assets, it allows the carriers who run cross-border freight to keep trucks moving. They aren’t beholden to trailers crossing or being ready to cross, and their drivers and tractors actually see improved velocity when it comes to utilization. This surplus of trailers also allows the carrier to sell their ability to handle a drop-trailer program to prospective cross-border shippers.

Physical Footprint

 Most carriers that service Mexico have a terminal at the border, if not their headquarters. Those carriers are leveraging a border city presence to employ cross-border experts. They need support in customer success, operations, customs management, and general customer service, which includes to providing tracking on every shipment in transit.

 Some carriers have terminals elsewhere in the United States, which enables them to run even more efficient drop trailer programs. The same strategy applies in Mexico in key markets like Monterrey, El Bajio, Guadalajara, Queretaro, and Mexico City. A terminal, or a terminal they share with a partner carrier, allows the carrier to leave trailers in secure yards that positions them as premier providers to shippers with trailers always ready nearby.

Carrier Partnerships

 Most carriers that send their trailers into Mexico do so partnering up with a Mexico carrier, or two, or even fifteen or twenty. These carriers run consistent lanes between major markets in Mexico and the corresponding border cities, using the U.S. carrier’s trailer to pick up and deliver freight. The U.S. carrier handles the customer service, requirements, and everything else considered to be the door-to-door carrier’s responsibility.

 So how do these partnerships come about? It takes a whole lot of tequila, some long-term relationship building and sitting down for dinner before talking business. US-based carriers who service Mexico seek out these partnerships to establish more capacity in key markets based on demand of their customers. Meanwhile, carriers in Mexico are also looking for growth opportunities by partnering up with U.S.-based carriers.

 Keep in mind, even with all these border inland moves, where carriers haul freight from a location in Mexico to the border, there’s also transfer carriers that can be added to your U.S. carrier’s list. These transfer carriers are the ones who actually cross the loads, with the permits and the patience to do that work. Carrier partnerships can overlap, where one Mexican carrier works with multiple U.S. carriers, but, most critically, they establish a core part of the backbone of North American logistics.

 Cross-border carriers spend a lot of time and resources making sure they have the right carrier partnerships setup in Mexico. Relying on the wrong carrier can result in a shipment disappearing and a damaged (or destroyed) relationship with the customer. All it takes is one stolen load to break that trust.

It takes a lot to move a cross-border shipment

 So, you see how this stuff is so complicated? You can’t just rely on a single carrier for updates or strong service. You need to have an understanding of who their underlying partner carriers are, how it all ties together, who’s handling what when and why, and it won’t hurt to understand it in two languages too. All of this is being communicated via WhatsApp right now.

 I would love to see more carriers who have 50+ trucks start exploring expansion into Mexico. It’s rare to see a U.S. carrier who operates domestically in the United States just decide to start sending their trailers into Mexico but, given all the craziness around nearshoring, you would think some carriers would start making that investment. Instead, in the last few years, we’ve seen companies like US Xpress and Covenant pull out of Mexico, right before the nearshoring boom started.

 If you’re involved in cross-border logistics and interested in learning more about what we’ve been building at Cargado, you should sign up for the waitlist to get a demo: cargado.com.


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## Issue #24: A conversation with a co-founder

**Published:** 2024-05-13  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-24-a-conversation-with-a-co

*I talked to over a dozen potential technical co-founder candidates and Rylan ended up being the perfect person.*


I was first introduced to Rylan Hawkins in early October. David Tsai, co-founder and CTO of GoodShip, made the initial introduction. David and his co-founder, GoodShip CEO Ryan Soskin, had both worked with Rylan at Convoy and absolutely raved about his leadership, engineering chops, and experience. At the time that we met, there were grumblings that something was going to happen soon with Convoy. There were rumors flying around that an acquisition was about to happen but no one knew who would be buying them.

 Convoy had a few different businesses: they had their freight brokerage, which is where all the grief has been historically targeted, they had a product called Convoy For Brokers, that allowed other brokers to connect directly with Convoy’s carrier network and leverage its technology, and they also had Convoy Go, which was a drop trailer program that they were building out that allowed carriers to run power-only moves within Convoy’s network, something shippers really appreciated given the flexibility that comes with a drop trailer network. Rylan was the General Manager for Convoy for Brokers and Convoy Go.

 When Rylan and I first talked about potentially starting Cargado together, Rylan wasn’t willing to entertain the idea of leaving Convoy. He was one of the earliest engineering hires and had been there for over seven years. He had seen the company grow from a startup and wasn’t willing to walk away until he knew where it was going. When I was building Forager, my CTO, Matt Weber, told me once that he’d be there til the end of Forager, whether it was through an acquisition or to turn off the lights at the end. Thankfully, we were acquired, but I saw that same trait in Rylan, that he was going to stay through an acquisition or to turn off the lights. I was willing to wait for that to conclude. It ended a few weeks later with Convoy winding down and Flexport picking up the tech.

 We’re at the point now, with this new funding, where we’re ready to start building an engineering team. Our team started with Rylan and three former Convoy engineers. The team is tight-knit and has a ton of amazing freight experience, blended in with Rylan’s Microsoft experience and previous time starting his own company. Another one of our team members has brought some lessons learned from his time at Google before Convoy, but we’re ready to expand.

 I figured I would change it up a little bit and bring Rylan into the conversation for this newsletter.

Matt: I remember, the first two weeks after everyone was onboarded, we basically spent the whole time on Zoom talking about technical decisions and lessons learned from everyone’s time at Convoy. I feel like that enabled the team to move as quickly as it has and to launch our first product 4.5 months after doing that work. Can you talk about what kind of decisions were made in that two-week timespan?

Rylan: This is something that speaks to the heart of a really natural tension that exists in the earliest phases of a startup: how do you balance short term and long term velocity. Those first couple weeks we spent talking about the core technical decisions we were going to rely on for many years to come. There were the easy things like what cloud provider do we want to use (for us that was AWS primarily because of the team’s familiarity). But there were also harder decisions too, like what Pub/Sub technology and pattern do we want to use to meet our requirements of auditability, analytics and async production processing. 

 Of course, we could have spent months looking at every option out there, and we could have also just gone with what we were familiar with, but we needed to tow the line. Some of the ways we did that was timeboxing the effort and working in parallel. So while the engineering team was thinking about these decisions, we were designing visual prototypes of our initial product and showing it to prospective customers. On familiarity, choosing the familiar option gets you speed in the short term, but you also can’t be afraid to use newer technology. Most companies select a technology and stick with that for a long time, while in the meantime new solutions are cropping up all over the place that are better ways of doing things. This is often why startups can compete with larger incumbents because the platform they exist on is just fundamentally better.

 I will say wherever possible, we try to live a mantra we learned at our previous companies of innovating deliberately. There are so many things a company has to get right, you must choose where you want to truly differentiate and when to simply choose to buy instead of build. There are so many companies with amazing platforms out there right now that makes building a company so much easier. We don’t need to reinvent user authentication or A/B experimentation or multi-channel notifications or in-app chat. There are entire companies focused on how to design those experiences and all the features you might need, and their price point will almost always be lower than yours to build given the scale at which they operate.

 I will say though, we were in a unique position to be able to spend the time we did getting our technology choices right. Our team already had a lot of experience in the industry, we’d already spent many hours with customers and had deep insights into what would work and what wouldn’t. Others may not have the luxury to focus on their foundational choices when the more existential question of product market fit is unanswered.

Matt: And what about how we make product decisions today? I feel like I see you enabling Steven, Jonathan, and Teagan to make their own decisions but can you elaborate on how that works?

Rylan: Well again this is another place that you have to balance as a leader. Amazing folks, like we have, means you have to give them autonomy and ownership or else they’ll go somewhere else. We hire people for their ideas and their judgment, so, of course, I want to capture the best of those and use them. I find that working at a startup is attractive to many because of the ability to just go and own something and do it repeatedly across a large swath of areas. This is because in the earliest stages there is an infinite number of things to do, so everyone has to just trust that everyone else is doing the most important things, and because all our employees get equity they care more about growing the value of the company which results in more reward than just getting recognized for their work. 

 On the other side of the coin though, the earliest decisions we make are some of the most lasting ones, the ones at the bottom of the stack that are really hard to untangle later. So this is why I also dive deep with the team to establish the patterns that everyone else will follow and the engineering culture that will last for the life of the company. Some of the cultural items are things like prioritizing simplicity, where simple solutions can be harder to realize, but have more lasting value than complex ones because of the ability to easily understand and innovate on top of them.

 I also believe heavily that one of the most important things in engineering is building good interfaces. This is because interfaces are often one-way doors instead of two-way doors, meaning they’re hard to change later on and thus deserve more consideration before shipping. Interfaces are the things other systems rely on, so when you get it wrong you find it's harder to untangle across all the places that rely on that interface.

Matt: Okay, now a hardball question. When you think about building an engineering culture, especially one that’s remote, what do you think are the most important aspects of doing that successfully?

Rylan: There are many things here, but top of mind is the importance of periodic connection in real life. One of our investors really pushed us to do once-a-quarter offsites where we work, eat, reflect and brainstorm together. This has been invaluable and something I look forward to every time we have one. We spent our most recent time in Monterrey with customers and partners, watching them work, sharing a meal and just sitting in their office learning about how they run their business. We also got to eat incredible food together and just be people, not just co-workers. It’s those times that create connection and stories that bind us together, which helps a lot in the day to day. 

Matt: Alright, well we know no two engineers are the same. But there’s definitely a prototypical engineer we want to bring onto the team. What kind of experience are you looking for? Tell me what your ideal engineer embodies.

Rylan: I think I can best answer this by talking about the attributes of the incredible team we have already and what I value so much in them. Here is a list:

 Strong product and customer empathy. They know when something doesn’t feel right or doesn’t allow the customer to get what they want. This might be a user experience thing or a functional thing.

 They think both short and long term. They recognize the need to ship, but they know when something is consequential and sets a standard that will be hard to change later. They cut themselves off if they realize something isn’t worth the ROI right now.

 They think about reusability. They build for what’s needed right now but open up the possibility to reuse some functionality later.

 They think about each other and who might have a point of view on a problem even if it’s different. They consider who might need to know something and talk to them to share their knowledge. 

 They think concretely with examples and in code, but they also take a step back and recognize when the team is falling into bad patterns or not being strategic enough or not prioritizing something more fundamental to make things easier or faster. 

 They have functional knowledge of the systems they use, from programming languages, design patterns, infrastructure systems, browsers, common APIs, and available SaaS options in the wild. 

 They think about the company's business model and strategy in addition to the systems and code. 

 They reflect on their learnings in the past and the scar tissue they’ve built up.

 They take pride in their craftsmanship.

 They write things down and always follow up, so when I or others delegate or help make a decision we know it will get done without having to check in again.

Matt: We’ve been building a product for about six months now. What lessons have you learned from that and what would you share with other early stage founders about building software at the earliest stage?

Rylan: I think the past six months have reminded me of one of the things I believe, but can be easy to get distracted and forget. It is the importance of having direct engagement between product and engineering folks and customers. They need to hear, see and be around customers. It creates so much empathy, understanding, connection and motivation that it pays off very quickly. It helps retention, it helps surface the best ideas and helps everyone prioritize quickly.

Matt: Last question – what do you see as the biggest technical challenge we’re going to tackle in the next twelve months as a team?

Rylan: What’s so great about logistics is that it’s just such an interesting and complex problem. It’s complex and interesting because you’re trying to reflect all the ways people operate and move things in the real world. So what makes it fun is that we get to use a lot of the most interesting tech out there and apply it. We get to go deep on great product engineering, machine learning, apply AI in particular areas where it makes a difference, build well-designed data pipelines, intuitive user interfaces, build securely, consider our foundational infrastructure and ultimately think strategically. We hire people who can both consider the deep technology and the business elements at the same time. This is what makes it such a challenge and also so rewarding.

 —-

 So yeah, we have this new influx of capital. We’re going to be smart about how and when we spend it, but we do have some budget for additional engineering talent. You can find all the roles posted here!


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## Issue #23: We’ve got new swag, and some new funding!

**Published:** 2024-05-06  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-23-weve-got-new-swag-and-some

*We raised more money, got some new swag, and have some new partners who are going to help accelerate Cargado’s growth.*


Big News

 We’re very excited to announce our recently closed $6.8M seed round, led by Primary Venture Partners with new investor RyderVentures, and participation from existing investors Ironspring Ventures, Zenda Capital, Wischoff Ventures, and Proeza Ventures.

 I’ll cut to the chase with the headline news here: no, we still aren’t sharing what we’re building, yes we have customers paying to use our product, and yes we got some really cool swag.

How I met Primary Venture Partners

 I first came across Zach Fredericks from Primary Venture Partners on X/Twitter, ranting into the ether that freight needs better technology. We knew of each other in passing, from the internet, but hadn’t ever met. Then, early into building Cargado, I was connected with another investor from Primary, who looped in Zach to have a conversation with me about what we’re building. The email started with “Hey Matt - long time fan from afar” and I knew this was the investor for Cargado.

 I learned a lot about the type of investors you want at the table during my time building Forager. I had some around the table who had the experience, had seen great companies succeed and others fail, and could help guide the team as a board member through some of those eventual ups and downs. I didn’t necessarily listen to a lot of that advice, stubbornly, and have reflected back on those conversations in my post about lessons learned.

 I knew I had the right pre-seed investors around the table but, as we started to build the business, I met Zach and Brad Svrluga, co-founder and managing partner at Primary Venture Partners, and I realized they had an incredibly powerful setup that could help us accelerate things dramatically. Zach had four years of experience at Loadsmart and knows the industry through and through. Brad has spent the last twenty-five years investing in startups and has seen it all. I was seeking out that experience to add to the table and found it in Brad.

 The other thing I learned about that gave Primary an advantage was their Impact team. As I was early into my technical co-founder search, Brad and Zach offered to use their talent sourcing team to help me find a co-founder. They sourced a dozen candidates and I met with several, all of whom were incredibly talented and qualified. They did this with no strings attached, nearly six months before eventually leading this round.

 Even before closing out this round, Brad had the impact team jump in and start supporting. They helped rework our financial model, their GTM team started helping me think about pricing strategy for our first product, and walking through how to actually structure SaaS deals (something that was new for me coming from freight), and have supported us in so many other ways already in the last few weeks alone. They’re also currently running multiple recruiting processes for us, including our a critical leadership role that we’re in the process of finalizing, building out our engineering team, and setting up our search for a Border Partnerships Manager role in El Paso.

 The impact has been incredibly clear and the support has been amazing in the last few weeks.

Why take on more capital? Didn’t you just raise?

 We raised our pre-seed round in Q4 of 2023 and have kept the team small with our operations incredibly lean. It’s just the six of us right now. We still had most of our capital left when this new funding opportunity came in and, as someone who was close to running out of money multiple times at Forager, I never wanted to be in that position again. I heard Parker Conrad talk about this on The Social Radars podcast and I’m of the mindset of having the cash and being smart about how we spend it.

 When I think about smart spending, I think about swag. We got some really cool swag through John Howard and the team at Slingshot. I got tired of wearing my PLEASE ADVISE hat in every podcast or video recording, and so now we have our own Cargado hats. Plus, we’ve got some really fun t-shirts we’ll be giving to our earliest users. By earliest users, I mean paying customers and their partners who engage in the product. Customers are already seeing success using our product in the month that it’s been live, which has been incredibly exciting.

 We also had the opportunity to take on some capital from RyderVentures. Mike Plasencia, Managing Director, has been great to work with on the venture team and summarized their belief with the following: “Growth in nearshoring will accelerate the adoption of disruptive technologies and business models for cross-border and intra-Mexico supply chains. Cargado is at the forefront of this enabling transformation. Through RyderVentures, we’re excited to both be an investor and early development partner.”

 This also means I don’t have to have any more investor conversations for a long time! I get to focus on working with all our customers and various users, and collaborating with our engineers on how our product gets built. The team moves with so much agility when it comes to customer feedback and we see it when other customers see those changes and respond in reassuring ways.

Problems to solve

 Where do I even start? I spent seventeen years of my life brokering freight. My past decade was focused entirely on moving freight across the U.S.-Mexico border. Like I’ve said before, we’re building tools to help create a better experience for everyone involved in cross-border freight. The way brokers and carriers interact, how they collaborate on a load or lane, how the customs broker plays into it, and how data is shared across all these parties – it’s all in play. There are way too many messages flying around via WhatsApp and email with no structure and we continue to believe that there’s a better way to do this work.

 The more time we’ve spent talking to brokers across the industry, the more common feedback we’ve seen around the main challenges they see and the results they’re looking to achieve. Same with carriers. Everyone wants to make more money, grow their business, keep their trucks moving, and spend less time asking for follow-up on an email. A lot of logistics providers are investing in their tech stack, with a mix of those who are building and those who decided to buy. We’re excited to be solving problems for companies in both categories.

P.S.: We’re hiring!

 If you’re passionate about cross-border freight or about logistics and supply chain in general, and love building technology, you should reach out! As we start to see some growth happen early into this process, we’re starting to think about strategic hiring, and so I’d be remiss if I didn’t include a few of the roles we’re looking to fill:

Senior Software Engineer

Border Partnerships Manager (El Paso TX)


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## Issue #22: Put on your carrier sales hat, shirt, and pants

**Published:** 2024-04-29  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-22-put-on-your-carrier-sales

*The first half of my career was spent in carrier sales and I still talk to carriers on a daily basis. Carriers might be my favorite part of freight as I reflect on the carrier sales function.*


Carrier sales has the word “sales” in it for a reason, you’re selling. As a carrier sales rep, you’re selling a carrier on why they should take a load that your company has over another company’s. And why they should take your rate. Usually one doesn’t happen without the other aligning.

 There’s so much that goes into carrier sales besides dialing for dollars and getting a carrier to take a load for a target rate. Every load has something unique about it, whether it’s live loading or a drop trailer, maybe it needs fumigation or scale tickets, or potentially requires a PROFEPA inspection at the border on a shipment of pallets going to Mexico. Being a great carrier rep has always been about knowing what your carriers need, from the lane to the type of freight to the way in which a facility operates. It’s about helping your carriers match up with the right freight.

 When I think about what I want to know about a carrier, it breaks down into a few categories:

Who are they?

 Are they an owner-operator>? Or a small, medium, or large carrier? Maybe a private fleet? How many trucks, trailers, and drivers do they have? What type of trailers and how many of each? Do they only run solo drivers or do they also run teams? Is it company drivers or leased owner-operators? So many questions to ask a carrier just to understand what they do.

 Understanding all those details tells you how much freight you’ll need to find your carrier, it tells you if they’ll haul dry or refrigerated or open deck freight, and if they have more trailers than tractors, it likely means they can do a drop trailer lane too.

What do they like to haul and where do they haul it?

 Some carriers haul anything. Some specialize in automotive or chemicals or temp-controlled food products. If they specialize in something, you typically try to feed them more freight that fits their specialization. Some carriers are particular about certain commodities that they won’t haul, like scrap metal or used beverage cans (leaking old sticky beer all over a trailer). A lot of cross-border carriers won’t haul cow hides as it makes their trailers dirty and impossible to clean out the stench.

 Some carriers run local freight while others run regional, and some run nation-wide and some service Mexico and/or Canada as well. You need to understand whether it’s an owner-op who can run loops within your network or if they have their own direct customer freight and need backhauls or consistent freight getting them home. Those types of carriers have totally different behaviors and needs. They all create a positive impact on improving logistics across North America, whether they run freight from Monterrey NLE to the Southeastern United States or Toronto ON to Dallas TX.

What can impact a carrier relationship?

 All it takes is one canceled load without a TONU or a driver deadheading 250mi before having a load cancel and being offered $150 for a TONU before a carrier cuts their relationship off with a broker. MIT published a study called “Elephants or Goldfish?: An Empirical Analysis of Carrier Reciprocity in Dynamic Freight Markets”, by Angela Acocella, Chris Caplice, and Yossi Sheffi. It talks about how shippers or brokers have memories like elephants, whereas carriers have memories like goldfish. A shipper or broker will end up holding a grudge against a provider for a long longer than a carrier will hold against a customer who’s offering them freight.

 Sure, a carrier may come back quickly to a broker who previously treated them unfairly, but they may start raising their rates by $50-100 on everything they quote for that broker. Broker reputation with carriers matters deeply, something I heard often while visiting Laredo and talking to carriers about what we’re building. Carriers care about if a broker will respond quickly when there’s issues, they don’t want to be harassed for tracking updates nonstop throughout a load (to be fair, if they just turn on auto-tracking it won’t be an issue…), they want to be paid fairly for moving freight and for related accessorial charges, and they want to put in a position to do a great job for their customer.

 When it comes to cross-border carriers, there’s even more nuance to how they operate and what makes them tick. Most carriers who service Mexico, for example, have B1 drivers who run freight for them. Those B1 drivers start in Mexico, cross the border, and deliver the freight. After delivering, their next load needs to take them back to the southern border, they can’t do a domestic load (it’s called cabotage). You can read more about B1 drivers in Issue #10: How freight gets across the U.S.-Mexico border. So those carriers are limited by what freight they can haul and where they’ll haul it, knowing they need their next load to bring them back to the border.

How does a shipper of choice factor into this?

 One of the first questions a carrier asks about a new lane out of Mexico is who the shipper is. They want to know if it’s going to take two hours or two weeks to get a trailer loaded. Or they’re wondering if it’s one of those facilities that will reject every trailer, even ones that smell too new. They worry about wasting time when there’s so much demand out of Mexico that they would rather get loaded at a facility that is easy to engage with and works efficiently. Drop trailer can be efficient as long as trailers turn regularly. Most carriers who run cross-border freight have a 3:1 trailer-to-tractor ratio and they’re more than willing to do a drop trailer on a regular lane.

 Carriers care about equipment velocity – they want their trucks and trailers moving efficiently, hauling freight consistently to keep downtown at a minimum. They care about their equipment staying in great condition as that equipment is their livelihood and repairs can be costly. They don’t want a product ruining the floors or walls of a trailer as it limits the type of freight they can haul. Shippers take food grade requirements seriously and will reject trailers when it comes to products being consumed by people. Having dirty or damaged trailers cuts a carrier off from getting access to that type of freight.

 There’s a lot that goes into what makes a load or lane appealing to a carrier. Shippers who earn “Shipper of Choice” awards have to check so many boxes to keep their providers happy. The ones who make the effort will see the rewards in the type of pricing and service they receive. Remember that comment about carriers raising their rates when brokers treat them unfairly? When carriers are treated fairly, they treat their customers equally, if not better.

P.S.: We’re hiring.

 If you feel similar to how I feel about carriers and you happen to live in El Paso TX, you should apply for our Border Partnerships Manager role.


---

## Feedback Loop

**Published:** 2024-04-22  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-21-feedback-loop

*Feedback from customers can make or break your product. Read on for a deep dive on early product feedback loops.*


The beta version of our first product has been live for two weeks. We have eight customers already using the platform and anticipate adding more this week. The last two weeks are also the only two weeks I’ve ever sold a SaaS product so there’s been quite a ramp there. I’m learning all about the quoting, contracting, and invoicing process live!

 It took us a little over four months to go from having Figma designs of our product to a live beta of the product. Rylan spearheaded the design while I provided a lot of the context for what makes our product work specifically for cross-border freight. The partnership has worked incredibly well because of our unique backgrounds and total alignment around what we’re building.

 That run-up from design to launch also involved a serious amount of feedback from our future users and likely early adopters. We showed our designs to over fifty potential customers, brokers throughout North America, carriers and customs brokers at the border, transportation leaders who have experienced these pains day in and day out.

 Our designs changed three meetings into our trip to Laredo back in December. It was still Day One, but we had heard the same feedback from three carriers and so we made a critical adjustment to the design before that fourth meeting. Nearly every meeting after that change, we heard a ton of positive feedback about the design we had adjusted, as if it had been there the whole time. This product came from the vision that Rylan and I have for what we’re building, but it was shaped heavily by a lot of our eventual users and by our talented engineering team, who walked in with years of freight tech experience and a ton of empathy for how drivers, carriers, brokers, and shippers feel about the way they interact with technology to do their jobs today.

Everyone has an opinion, how do you, as the founder, know which ones should shape a product?

 I’ve gotten this question from a few people recently. Rylan and I feel strongly about how this product needs to work long-term but we’re not stupidly stubborn about it. We know where we’re going with this whole thing, but, as I just outlined, we’re not the ones who are going to be using this product. We need to build it with our customers in mind. We also understand that behavior change in this industry is an incredibly challenging thing to overcome. How dramatically can you possibly change one’s behavior? Especially when it’s rooted in a playbook that has worked for so long for so many of these companies.

 We know our customers are used to doing business in a certain way and so we shape our conversations to support that existing way of life. Do I agree with how they’re doing it today? Sometimes, but when I don’t, I share my opinion. After all, I’ve brokered freight for seventeen years, the last decade focused purely on cross-border freight. I’ve seen a lot of the challenges that come with doing all that complex work and so the products we’re building are shaped with that experience baked into it. We take everyone’s feedback on our product and we use it to think about how to solve problems.

 Sometimes, a user can ask for a button and we’ll ask them why they want the button. They’ll explain what they want the button to do and eventually, explain the actual problem they’re experiencing. Our goal isn’t to rebuild what people have used in the past, it’s to take these problem statements and build new solutions that could be done in a better way. Why ask a bunch of the same questions repeatedly via WhatsApp when you can use a form that ends up being pre-filled half the time? Just because it’s always been done a certain way doesn’t mean you should keep doing it that way. We take everyone’s feedback seriously, but it’s our jobs to translate those requests into scalable solutions.

My opinion on Teams

 I’m a big believer in not being stubborn and meeting your customers where they are. I just wrote about this on X recently. We use Gmail, Slack, and Zoom to communicate at Cargado. I’ve used the Microsoft suite before, multiple times, and just don’t like it as much as the setup I just laid out. However, a lot of our customers use Microsoft Teams to chat and meet via video and, after weeks of seeing potential customers struggle for 3-5 minutes with how to connect to Zoom, and how to get the audio to work, I made an investment.

 I decided to buy a couple Teams seat licenses. That ended up being beneficial for two reasons, it made the video meetings run so much smoother, especially if I proactively set up a Teams accounts and was making our customers feel more comfortable with how they join a meeting, and we’re now able to chat directly with our customers to provide them with instant customer support. We already have four of our customers set up on Teams and they can ask questions and share feedback instantly. We’re actively working on integrating Cargado into Teams, Slack, and WhatsApp so that we can continue moving closer to meeting our customers where they are.

 As far as the Teams vs Zoom/Slack debate, I consider it over after using Teams again for the past week. The threading in Slack is substantially better. The ability to see who’s talking and what’s going on in Zoom, while screensharing in particular, is also far better than Teams. The only thing that’s been better about Teams, from my perspective, has been that it hasn’t been a struggle seeing customers join video meetings when they’re already using Teams all day.

What’s next for Cargado?

 We have so much on our roadmap and there’s a ton of incredible feedback we’ve received from our early customers. Right now, the focus is on responding to that feedback by adding to our product and onboarding new customers. I’ve done more demos in the past month than I think I did at Forager and this has been more fun than I’ve ever had in my professional career. It’s my first time selling a true software product but I’m selling it to people I’ve known for a long time, and to people who’s problems I understand exceptionally well. We’re seeing amazing early adoption and just need to keep building.

 If you’re actively moving cross-border freight and interested in getting a demo, join the waitlist at Cargado.com and I’ll reach out to schedule time, or send me a DM!


---

## Issue #20: Five Opportunities to Improve the Freight Industry

**Published:** 2024-04-15  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-20-five-opportunities-to-improve

*Some things in this industry are working, but they're not working great. It's time to build better tech for the industry.*


Look, no industry is perfect, but this one is pretty far from it. For something that basically enables the whole world to exist, logistics and supply chain is really far behind the ball when it comes to technology. So many other major industries have come so far, and it feels like we’re still doing a lot of the same things we did fifteen years ago, and likely longer ago (but I’ve only been doing this for seventeen years so that’s what I’ve got for you).

 Maybe we’re not sending rate confirmations via fax machine to truck stops, at least I haven’t heard of that happening in a while, but remember doing that early in my career. And sure, we’re not communicating with carriers in Mexico via Nextel phones, with this method of communication having been replaced by WhatsApp, as more people in Mexico have smartphones than ever before. Yet somehow, a lot of companies still rely on software built decades ago to manage their day-to-day business and communicate with external parties (I’m talking about some TMSs, load boards, and EDI).

 My plan was to write more about our launch but we’re literally still launching and so, instead, for Issue #20, I’m going to talk about five major opportunities I see in logistics, supply chain, and freight. I’ve spent my whole career specifically in full truckload freight but, through my time at Coyote as part of UPS, and my time angel investing, I’ve had an opportunity to learn more about other parts of what makes things move, so I’ll try to cover more than your typical brokerage pain points.

Tracking

 When I first started as an intern at Coyote in 2007, my job was calling drivers and asking them for updates to find out where they were. They would tell me a mile marker they passed and I would have to figure out the corresponding town. Tracking is still a huge pain. Yes, companies like Project44 have certainly made it easier to track loads. Now, drivers can connect via Project44 and provide near-real-time location updates. However, we’re spoiled by food delivery apps. We get little dots on a map telling us exactly where our food is and when it’s going to arrive at our door, but it still takes a small army to actually get a carrier integrated into your TMS through your preferred visibility provider. And yes, tools like Tive, with their physical GPS devices, are cool, but that’s too expensive and complicated to scale past a certain point.

 I would love to see a more natively integrated solution that enables shippers and logistics providers to better track the location of the freight. It’s not just about whatever the platform looks like that actually solves this problem, it’s about what it integrates into and how it interacts with other systems. What do you do with those location updates once you have them? How does that impact dock schedules?

Scheduling

 Speaking of dock schedules, nine times out of ten, a late truck is simply going to the back of the line and everyone else’s schedule remains untouched. There’s typically no shuffling of a schedule when a driver is running late and notifies a facility. How does the driver notify the facility? Could be a call to the broker, who calls the facility, or the driver could call directly and, after sitting on hold, let them know he’s going to be three hours late two hours before the scheduled arrival time. They let the driver know that he’ll need to wait until they have time later in the day, as their schedule is full.

 Scheduling is in a really bad situation right now. The best we’ve seen has been a dozen versions of Calendly for freight scheduling, with no standards when it comes to cross-platform communication. Yes, there’s the SSC, but we’ll see where that goes. Someone needs to actually build a better way to make scheduling work between all those involved, and no, this doesn’t need blockchain.

Carrier Quality

 How is it possible that there’s no way to know, industry-wide, whether a carrier does a great job or not? Moving freight from one place to another is pretty much the same across the country, whether short or long haul. When I think about the quality of a carrier, I want to understand their on-time pickup and delivery numbers, how they communicate with their customers, how they represent themselves at facilities, the quality of their equipment, and their pricing.

 How do we not have any version of a credit score for carriers? Yes, there are safety scores, but that’s only one piece of the puzzle. Highway does a great job around carrier identity and is working hard to prevent fraud, but this is about performance on the job. What would it take to get brokers and shippers to share their performance data about carriers so the industry could collectively understand the quality of every carrier?

Broker Identity and Quality

 How is it that double-brokering is so rampant in the industry? Why is fraud such a big problem in this day and age? Is it because criminals are getting better with technology or because the industry is growing and creating more opportunities for crime? I love what Highway has done to improve how brokers manage carrier identity but I think we need something similar on the brokerage side. Brokers get away with far too much and with little recourse – when will that change?

Talent Distribution

 There are so many talented people in this industry who have spent 5-10 years learning how to operate, cover, and sell freight. They’ve learned from some of the best and have developed their own tactics or methods for how to do their jobs in a great manner. We’ve started to see, over the past few years, former Coyote leadership sprinkled throughout the ranks of most of the top 100 brokerages in the industry. Talented people deserve an opportunity to grow their careers and take on new roles and responsibilities. 

 With how tightly wrapped this industry is with non-competes, I think people get held back from having an opportunity to go start their own business. Should you be able to steal customers away from the company that just paid and trained you? No. Don’t take customers and don’t take employees. Should you have the opportunity to go lead a new team at a new company after you’ve earned your stripes? If you’re not going to get it at your current company, then yes. I know this is going to be a somewhat controversial take, but reward your best people and keep them motivated or you’ll lose them. And if you do lose them, be proud of the fact that you taught them something and they were able to carry that forward at a new company. Just look at how the coaching trees in the NFL work. I’ve seen several people who worked for me in the past go on and start running a different brokerage’s Mexico division and I’m sure we’ll see more in the coming years.

It’s time to build better tech for this industry.

 I wrote about it before in my “The Freight Industry is Changing” post and I’ll say it again: this industry deserves better technology. We’re building something to tackle all the issues that come with cross-border freight, as you saw spotlighted in last week’s Freight Caviar post, but there’s so much opportunity in the rest of the industry to keep building great technology. Go build it if you’ve got that entrepreneurial spirit and if you have actual operating experience to truly have felt the pain that everyone in this industry feels day in and day out.


---

## Issue #19: What Drives a Driver

**Published:** 2024-04-01  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-19-what-drives-a-driver

*In seventeen years in brokerage, half of my time was spent focused on cross-border freight. The other half was mostly carrier sales-related work. Let's talk about what I learned during that time.*


The first time I started developing my own book of carriers, I was in Coyote’s San Diego office and my job, at the time, was covering automotive battery freight. I had developed three distinct groups of carriers. This time in San Diego, plus the next year I spent in Chicago focused on private fleets, formed how I approach carriers and how I think about the different types of carriers. Not all carriers are the same, and not even most owner-operators operate the same.

 What I’ve found is that there’s usually one guiding point that drives most carriers, which is a combination of revenue and getting drivers home, with the exception of the first group I mentioned below, who generally focuses entirely on revenue. Drivers have families with children who play sports and they want to be home to see their kid play every weekend. Others have families living overseas and they came to the United States to create more wealth for their families.

Outbound Carriers

 Manchester, IA was a major shipping point for one of our customers and, 49 miles away from there, was Waterloo, IA, home to a whole collection of Bosnian carriers who would run anywhere as long as it had enough miles and enough money. They had a revenue target they were trying to hit for each week, regardless of the miles. Interestingly, some weeks generated $6k, some $8k, but they would target $6k per truck on average (this was in 2010-2013). If it was getting towards the end of the week and they were in a bad market where rates were low but they were falling short of their target for the week, they would stand their ground and ask for absurdly high rates rather than trying to move their truck to a better location.

 I had similar outbound carriers in Tennessee, Indiana, and Kansas, mirroring our customer’s footprint. I had essentially built up a dedicated fleet around their freight and knew more about moving batteries and their hazmat exemption than I could ever forget. These loads took my carriers all over the country as they were manufacturing different products at each plant. The longer the miles, the better for most of these carriers. They knew they could charge more to the northeast or into Florida, and that they could get an arm and a leg around holidays. It was 50/50 if I was going to make money with those outbound carriers but, having guaranteed capacity nearby allowed me to nail service for our customer.

Owner-Operators

 I had owner-operators throughout the country, whether they had a single truck and truly dispatched for themselves or if they had a handful of trucks that they managed. They would typical run around regional markets, bouncing between cities in the southwest like Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Las Vegas, and Phoenix. Other drivers drove around the midwest. They ran truckloads of new batteries from Iowa to Ohio, unloading a new load of batteries and picking up a junk load that was headed to a smelter in Indiana, where they would again unload and then reload with recently-smelted-batteries that had been turned into lead. They would move that lead from Indiana to Iowa again, where the battery manufacturer would turn the lead into new batteries, thus starting the cycle over again.

 These owner-operators had a cost per mile to operate their truck and needed to average more than that on a weekly basis, or at least on a set of loads that took them from home and back home again. Some wanted to be home to see their kid play baseball on the weekends while others drove around the country simply to see the country. They saw it as a way to explore the United States and make a living while doing so. Some loved the consistency of running the same lanes every week, developing a personal relationship with the people on the shipping and receiving docks.

Regional Fleets

 The third set of carriers I developed were regional fleets. I had carriers who had their own direct customers who would send them on freight from the Los Angeles area to the Pacific Northwest, where they would deliver goods in the Seattle and Portland areas. Those carriers needed backhauls, loads that would get them back home again, in order to reload their customer freight. The easiest freight to haul back to Southern California was batteries going into yet another smelter.

 These regional carriers had the most competitive rates. Because they had their own direct customer freight taking them outbound, they just needed those trucks home as soon as possible and they would take a load from IA to KS for cheaper than most other carriers. Those became my primary carriers that I developed on each dedicated lane and I made a decent commission booking those carriers.

What drives a driver?

 At first glance, it seems like money is what motivates drivers. Let’s be real – most people work to generate an income to support their own lives and/or their family. Drivers are no different. However, one thing I’ve picked up on in my career is that there are different motivators for different drivers.

 What else do drivers think about? Like I said, some want to just see the country. WIth all the load boards in the industry today, drivers in the U.S. can login and pick a load going basically anywhere. They can see every corner of the continental U.S. if they really want. They also care deeply about delivering a great service. If you’ve ever talked to a driver, most are friendly and care a ton about their reputation. They want to make every pickup and delivery on time, and the last thing they want is to be stuck with a load shift where they have to restack product and re-palletize it.

 Drivers also want to work with customers or partners that they actually enjoy working with. I used to keep owner-operators running in loops for weeks on end; they literally only worked with me. They didn’t take freight from other brokers, they would just keep booking with me until I couldn’t keep them loaded and had to tell them to call someone else to keep them moving. With some drivers, I would end up on calls for thirty minutes at a time, just shooting the shit with them.

 Carrier sales was one of my favorite jobs from working at a brokerage. I had a knack for understanding a carrier’s network, whether it was owner-operators, regional fleets, or even my year spent in Private Fleet (loading our customer’s own trucks on freight), carriers have a footprint and you just have to understand how that footprint overlaps with your own footprint. Here’s what I think carriers care about the most:

Making money and covering their monthly costs (truck note, fuel, insurance, maintenance costs) and having enough money to generate an income and support their family

Minimizing empty miles (when you drive empty, you typically get paid less or don’t get paid unless it’s a hot market)

Not wasting time sitting (whether it’s waiting for an appointment or if they’re being paid detention, they would rather be driving)

Having a great reputation with their customers (shamelessly plugging CarrierSource again given how easy it is for carriers to manage their reputation this way)

Trusting their customers to pay on time, or at all (most carriers rely primarily on brokers to keep their trucks loaded and fraud is rampant these days, so this is a hot topic for most carriers)

 One call-out that I touched on a couple weeks ago is that carriers typically don’t spend much on marketing, especially smaller carriers. It’s all about those key areas of focus and they don’t have time to worry about their public brand. It’s unfortunate that carriers need to spend so much time worrying about finding the right loads for the right rates and making sure they’ll actually get paid. Tools exist to solve a lot of these issues for carriers but there’s opportunity for better products. Carriers have a specific need and it’s great to see some startups focusing on solving those problems, but the market still seems to be dominated by a few big players.

Some Additional Thoughts

 Q1 seemed calm but I started to hear from some large players that the last week of Q1 felt tighter than normal and that could lead to a stronger Q2.

 My brother’s last two episodes of The Freight Pod, featuring Kary Jablonski (TruckerTools) and Kendra Tucker (Truckstop), were outstanding. Both of these CEOs focus a lot more on all things marketing. Not saying this because he’s my brother, I would highly recommend listening to his podcast. It’s a deep dive on the history of the industry and great conversations with leaders across the industry.

 Holy shit, this week is the week! I talked about our upcoming launch last week but our first few pilot customers get up and running this week and it’s getting real. This first product is built for brokers, specifically anyone who moves cross-border freight, so if you’re interested in a demo, join the waitlist or reach out!


---

## Issue #18: Our First Product Launch

**Published:** 2024-03-25  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-18-our-first-product-launch

*We're days away from our very first product launch. I went into what it took to get here so far and what's next.*


As we get closer to launching our first product, I reflect on what it’s taken to get to this point and what’s still to come. Forager started off in office but pivoted to distributed once the pandemic happened and so I’m used to building with a remote team but we’ve been more intentional about in-person work, and it still takes work to build a culture remotely. So far, we’ve had two team offsites, one in Laredo where the team had an opportunity to visit carriers, customs brokers, forwarders, and warehouses involved in cross-border freight. This quarter, we spent part of a week in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, where we visited a couple brokers who move cross-border freight, and a couple of us met with carriers later that week as well.

 I first started working on Cargado in October 2024 and came up with a list of all the problems that I thought brokers, carriers, shippers, and customs brokers deal with on cross-border freight, but I had to organize that list of problems into actionable solutions. I landed on the first problem I wanted to solve and how I would solve it but needed funding and needed a technical co-founder. I began talking to investors about funding and started looking for a co-founder.

 I had interviewed over a dozen potential technical co-founder candidates and was getting frustrated. I was reaching a level of frustration where I was about to try teaching myself how to code when I was first introduced to Rylan Hawkins, shortly before Convoy shut down. Rylan had built Convoy Go and Convoy for Brokers, two unique programs at Convoy that contributed meaningfully to the company’s numbers. We had a very strong shared view on what the industry could look like and how technology plays a role in the evolution of it. This evolved the initial product vision I had as we talked about what it could become.

 We aligned quickly on a few things, we were never going to build a brokerage, we were going to build a real software company and generate revenue, and Meatball (as I write this on Sunday, he turned six today!) would be part of our logo. I’ve described how the team came together previously so I won’t rehash that, but I want to focus on a few key moments:

Use a prototype for customer feedback

 Rylan built out an advanced V1 of what our product could look like in Figma and turned it into a prototype. That enabled us in Laredo, Monterrey, and on zoom to get feedback from eventual users before we started building it. We spent time with over fifty companies collecting feedback before we started building the product.

Establish a technical culture early

 The team spent the first two weeks in mid-November on Zoom writing up how they wanted to structure the system, the data models, and technical lessons learned from their time at Convoy. There was a lot of intention in those conversations that has led to enabling the team to move quickly as they have so far as we approach our launch.

Domain expertise + focus on the customer

 We’ve focused heavily on building a product that’s intuitive to all users. We’re freight people at heart and we understand what work goes into managing cross-border freight and we’ve spent a lot of time focused on even the smallest pieces of the product to make sure that it makes sense to people who need to use the product.

 The work the past six months has been a lot of sales and a lot of doing all the random things that an early stage startup needs. I’m excited to start spending more time engaging with our early adopters and building based on their feedback. We have a deep roadmap that we think will continue to drive value for everyone in the process and are excited to build it. We’ll eventually share more about our roadmap publicly when the timing makes sense.

 There’s a fine line when it comes to building in public and making sure it adds value for both the business and the viewers. While building in public isn’t for everyone, I don’t know that I could’ve done this while building Forager. I learned so much about the playbook for building a company while building Forager and now that I’m running that playbook, it feels a bit more feasible to manage both. We’re inching towards launch and that’s going to make for some interesting new content and new learnings. The past week, I’ve learned so much about how to price a product, putting together a commercial agreement, and organizing a pipeline beyond a simple spreadsheet.

 Even as the waitlist gets longer, I’ll encourage you to sign up if you’re actively involved in or planning to get involved in cross-border freight. I’m currently walking people through the product and what it’s going to evolve into and am excited to launch this thing!


---

## Issue #17: Marketing and Brand Identity in the Freight Industry

**Published:** 2024-03-18  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-17-marketing-and-brand-identity

*Marketing can be hit or miss for companies in the freight industry. Most companies focus on shipper acquisition, ignoring carriers and potential employees.*


Marketing can be a hot topic in this industry. It generally seems like people have polarizing opinions on it, either they think it’s the key to their success or that think it’s completely useless. I rarely come across someone who feels like they’re in the middle on the topic. Everyone in the industry has different layers to how they think about their brand.

 Shippers will get better pricing if their freight is perceived as more appealing to providers. Their brand within the industry is very different than the brand they aim to present to their end customers, typically consumers. Some shippers are known as being price sensitive, others are known as being tech-forward, some win prestigious “shipper of choice” awards.

 Brokers are marketing their various service offerings to shippers, they offer their benefits to carriers, and they offer a fun workplace to prospective employees. Some brokers include their tech in their service offerings, or they embed it in their overall service offering. The reality, though, is that effort goes into different audiences at different levels. And oftentimes, you come across the same stock images of European trucks in the mountains.

 Carriers, meanwhile, seem to spend the least time focused on their branding. Yes, there are some carriers who invest a bit more in their marketing, whether it’s their website or their social media presence, but there’s a lot of carriers with a very limited online presence. When I search for a random carrier, it’s more often that I find their CarrierSource profile than I find a website (if you’re a carrier, I strongly suggest claiming your profile). I think this boils down to these carriers having a small set of customers (likely a combination of shippers and brokers) that keep their trucks moving. The owner is typically the main salesperson for smaller companies, and you might find a Facebook profile for them, but not likely a website or LinkedIn profile.

 Personally, I think marketing can be everything for a business. I write this with my untrained experience involved in marketing. Marketing is the voice of the company, it’s the content and communication that the company shares, it’s the logo and the way it’s used, it’s the way that the overall company, its leaders and its services are portrayed to the rest of the industry.

 Your business can have a voice that is typically a representation of the founder/CEO and/or the marketing leader that helps breathe life into it. A fun brand can attract the right talent or the right customers. A forward-thinking company pulls customers in who share similar perspectives. Establish credible thought leadership by sharing deep content that people can learn from and share with their networks. Document and share experiences that others relate to and it’s likelier that they’ll become fans of your product.

 Yes, you need a great product and a great business. You need to make money. Marketing does not cure everything. We’ve seen that in the freight industry. You need sound unit economics and a business plan that generates value. But, marketing can be a force multiplier if you invest in it correctly.


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## Issue #16: Advice to an Aspiring Entrepreneur

**Published:** 2024-03-11  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-16-advice-to-an-aspiring-entrepreneur

*Starting a company can be incredibly difficult and isn't for everyone. Entrepreneurship can also be incredibly rewarding.*


While on my trip to Fort Worth this past week, I was asked what advice I would give to an aspiring entrepreneur. It led to a fun conversation about some of the things it takes to start a company. Before I started Forager, I tried starting a music video production company. We made music videos but didn’t make money doing it, which kind of defeated the purpose of a business.

 There is so much to think about when building a business, like the fact that your whole team’s income is dependent on your ability to fund the business (it also depends on the output of their own work). It can be extremely stressful as the responsibilities mount and the external pressures increase. Let’s get into five key tips I would give any aspiring entrepreneur.

1. Solve a problem that you understand and care about.

 Don’t try to find the next trendy thing to build. It rarely works. Supply chain and logistics encompasses so many different segments that are ripe for better technology, but you can’t just put on a blindfold, throw a dart, and hope to hit the exact area to focus. It’s so important to understand the problem you’re solving because it’s something you experienced yourself.

2. Have an idea of how you’ll make money before you start building.

 You don’t need the full go-to-market motion and revenue model completely mapped out but you need a path to making money and building a sustainable business. Whether you bootstrap or raise capital, it’s imperative that you have a way to generate revenue and cash flow. If you don’t have a clear idea of who will pay for your product and how it’s going to add value for your customers, it may be hard to build a business around that product. Not every business is venture-backable but that’s fine. A path to profitability matters whether you have funding or bootstrap.

3. Write it down. Write a business plan.

 Start as an outline and a one-pager describing what the business will be. Then turn that outline into a full business plan and a deck to help tell the story. You can find a business plan outline online or just start writing down all the critical aspects of your plan. What you want to build, who you’re building it for, how you’re going to build it, why you’re the one to build it, how much your customer might pay for it, and who else you need to build it with you. The plan will evolve but it’s really important to start somewhere.

4. Build a team and culture with intention.

 This is something you need to talk about with your co-founder early and decide what type of company you want to build. What do you want the culture to be like? What did you like about your last company, what didn’t you like? You need to decide how you’re going to communicate with your team, what type of transparency there will be, and the expectations you’ll have of the team. Outline what you want the culture to look like and share that vision with the rest of the team.

5. Be prepared for your roadmap to change.

 I had a vision for what Cargado could become and it changed for the better the day I met Rylan. Rylan had his view of how the industry could work and what technology could do to move it forward. It aligned with my vision but also had a unique twist to it that I appreciate and have since adopted. We also saw some of our early potential customers provide valuable feedback that resulted in material changes to our designs and we made those adjustments quickly. We saw positive feedback from those changes and found it made our product better.

 Building a startup boils down to planning, focusing on solving a problem, and building with intention. It isn’t just a matter of doing these five things and you’ll succeed, it takes more work than that, but these are five starting points. I think there’s a massive amount of opportunity to build in the freight industry. Shippers, brokers, and carriers each represent different segments of a massive industry and you can move from procurement to purchasing to manufacturing to transportation and distribution and there’s so much more beyond that. I wrote about it a while ago that I think the freight industry is changing for the better. Hopefully this advice will help nudge someone in the direction of solving a problem they saw on a daily basis at work that they decided to solve with technology.


---

## Cross-Border Complexity

**Published:** 2024-03-04  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-15-cross-border-complexity

*U.S.-Mexico cross-border freight carries so much complexity that there’s never just a simple path to follow in order to execute it successfully.*


What makes cross-border freight so complex?

 Moving freight between Mexico and the United States is significantly more complicated than moving U.S. domestic freight, and also comes with more challenges than moving freight across the northern border of the United States.

 Domestic freight has your typical pickup and delivery facilities, a carrier moving the freight from A to B, and a Bill of Lading (BOL) that, when signed by the receiver, doubles as Proof of Delivery (POD). Loads moving to or coming from Canada have all those items plus the PARS (U.S. to Canada) or PAPS (Canada to U.S.) and takes about thirty minutes to cross the border.

 Let’s look at what makes Mexico freight so complicated. First, you have 7-8 parties involved in a single shipment moving across the U.S.-Mexico border. The only similarity to a domestic shipment is that you have a pickup and delivery facility. Aside from that, you have:

 Three carriers

 Two customs brokers

 A whole lot of paperwork beyond a BOL and POD (I wrote about this piece a bit: carta porte, carta porte complemento, DODA, and a commercial invoice, to name a few)

 Potential product-specific inspections at the border

 Two languages

 Two cultures

 Two countries (and a third if it’s Mexico to Canada or vice versa)

 A border separating everything

 Most logistics providers aren’t in a position to juggle all of these different parties and that’s why you typically need a Mexico department to support this kind of business. You need a leader who understands all these intricacies and can untangle a mess that’s jamming up your team’s day at the border. Communication is happening anywhere and everywhere, across email, phone calls, texts, and WhatsApp messages.

 On any given load or account, there could be 3-5 distinct WhatsApp groups in use:

 Broker/3PL ←→ Shipper

 Broker/3PL ←→ Carrier

 Broker/3PL ←→ Customs Broker

 Broker/3PL ←→ Carrier <> Customs Broker

 Broker/3PL ←→ Transload Facility (if the freight is being transloaded at the border)

 All of that paperwork I mentioned above? It requires some key data points related to the carrier(s) involved in the load and the relevant load-specific details in order to be generated accurately. Missing the T in T1000 on a trailer number and your paperwork will be wrong and you’ll run into delays at the border. All of this information is being transmitted across these WhatsApp groups and emails. Now take those WhatsApp groups and multiply that by the 20,000 loads per day moving across the border, across the thousands of carriers helping execute on those shipments, and you can quickly end up in Excel Hell.

So how does this mess get solved?

 It takes a lot of organization and structure. It also takes strong process-oriented leadership on your Mexico team. It takes buy-in across the organization to invest in a Mexico team or, if you’re a shipper, it means partnering with the right logistics provider who understands all these complexities and can create order out of chaos. It also takes exceptionally strong will to manage this type of freight on a day-to-day basis. If you’re a trucking company wanting to service Mexico, it takes a 3:1 trailer-to-tractor ratio, at a minimum, along with partnerships with Mexican trucking companies who will sign a trailer interchange agreement with you.

 Most TMSs don’t have the fields to support half the information that you actually need to properly execute a cross-border Mexico shipment, which means that those teams are oftentimes spending a lot of their day in spreadsheets, email, and WhatsApp. There’s a whole lot of copying and pasting from one window to another. It’s not uncommon to walk around a brokerage floor that’s supporting Mexico freight and see two monitors on each desk, with one monitor occupied by WhatsApp.

 I said “most TMSs” but what I really meant is that most software in this industry isn’t built for cross-border freight. Everyone has been chasing this $800B gorilla that makes up the U.S. freight market. And yes, there are some TMSs that support Mexico to varying degrees, both proprietary at some of the largest brokerages as well as SaaS products that brokers, shippers, and carriers buy to support their businesses. But most don’t.

 As I wrote about in Issue #11: The Freight Industry Is Changing, I would love to see this industry get to a place where service providers are investing in their tech stacks through partnerships, not through their own massive in-house IT budgets. Yes, the big guys will continue to mostly build their own tech, but being open to establishing integrations and partnerships is going to prove to be the only way forward.

Insert Cargado

 While we still aren’t quite ready to talk about exactly what we’re building, I can tell you that we’re looking to tackle a lot of these issues. We want to connect all these disparate parties in a single platform and help drive productivity across the U.S.-Mexico supply chain. If I had it my way, we would end the need for WhatsApp in this industry. Why does everything happen in WhatsApp? Because that’s how it’s been handled for the past seven years or so. When I first started moving Mexico freight in 2014, drivers in Mexico were primarily using those Nextel phones that act like walkie-talkies to communicate, a far stretch from a smartphone with a communication platform like WhatsApp.

 What I can tell you about what we’re building is that we’re taking problems that I experienced at Coyote, Forager, and Arrive as a Mexico leader and we’re tackling them, one by one. We’re building in a very methodical way to establish a better experience for everyone in the industry, with the goal of creating a more interconnected, dependable, and transparent future for the industry.

 And since I’m talking about Cargado, if you enjoyed this post, do three things for me:

 Share this post on LinkedIn — everyone needs a hand with Mexico freight right now and hopefully this helps shed some light on why it’s so challenging.

 Subscribe to this newsletter if you haven’t yet.

 Sign up for the waitlist if you’re moving cross-border freight or want to get into it — Cargado.com.

 Subscribe now


---

## Issue #14: Building In Public

**Published:** 2024-02-26  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-14-building-in-public

*Building in public can be fun and exhausting at the same time. It's almost a separate personality that you have to manage and produce. Let's talk a bit about building a company.*


Every founder’s journey is different. It’s rare that you follow the exact same path as a fellow founder, and even more rare that you follow the same path you took the first time when it’s your second time around. You’ve seen it, you’ve made those mistakes, and you’re going to do your best to navigate around making those same mistakes. I try to apply these lessons I learned in two ways, for building Cargado and for advising the other startup founders I work with on a regular basis, either as an advisor or as an angel investor.

 It’s valuable as a first-time founder to have someone to talk to that’s been through it all before. The fundraising, the hiring, firing, sales, go-to-market motion. I love talking about all those tactics with founders. I try hard to help them avoid the same mistakes that I made and, typically, they listen, albeit not always. One thing I realize I still need to get better at is saying “no” to people who ask for my time. I would love to give everyone advice or feedback but I owe it to my team and my investors to give them my full time and focus.

 If I think back to a really challenging time at Forager, I remember the wavy take rate graph and questionable unit economics that we had. Our take rate (the percentage of the revenue we kept) went from positive to negative and back to positive from quarter to quarter. I thought, stubbornly, that we could take volume at all costs, losing money in the process, and grow the top line to power through a bad market. I was wildly wrong. We were failing at sustaining one of the key business levers, our unit economics, and it made it hard to sustain or grow our business.

 We eventually corrected the ship but the price risk associated with our business model continued to present a challenge. When you don’t have scale and leverage with your carrier network, pumping thousands of loads per day through that network, it’s hard to grow as quickly as you might want to in a venture-backed world. We didn’t have that carrier leverage that a large logistics company has and so we realized it made more sense to join forces with someone like Arrive than it made to keep going at it on our own.

 We were trying to build a tech company and a services business at the same time and, as I’ve talked about previously, we couldn’t do it. You have to pick one or the other. This time around, we get to pick the tech company path and build something enduring. There are so many unique problems that exist with cross-border freight that I’m excited to tackle with the products we’re building at Cargado. There will be something for everyone involved.

 I heard feedback on FreightX from another entrepreneur about how most people building in public don’t share the bad moments as they occur. Sometimes, those bad things drag on and you don’t realize how bad it was until you come out the other side. Sometimes it involves a bad hire that you can’t exactly drag in public. I think back to my most frustrating moment so far with Cargado, it was once the funding was secured but I lacked a technical co-founder to partner with on building this vision. I met over a dozen outstanding candidates, but none of them were quite the right fit. Until I met Rylan, right as Convoy was on the brink of shutting down.

 I wanted to just start building so badly. I had this vision in my head for what needed to be built. Thankfully, I was patient. I remember watching Rylan and the team spend the first two weeks planning out how they wanted to build the platform, making a lot of technical decisions ahead of time instead of on the fly. They’re moving so quickly now, in part because they had all worked together previously, and because they laid out their plans with intention before starting to code. The patience paid off.

 Having the right team early can make a company great, while the wrong team can result in a mediocre outcome. Yes, the idea needs to be great, the problem needs to be massive, and there needs to be founder-market fit, but you need an incredible team as well. We’re six people strong now and everyone is passionate about solving these problems for brokers, carriers, shippers, customs brokers, and warehouses.

 When I think back to Forager, we built the team differently. Early on, my focus was finding anyone who understood freight who was willing to jump in and work. You paid for experience and we paid for it royally, although it didn’t quite work out the way we wanted it to work out. A lot of our earliest hires cycled through and it took us a couple years to solidify our core as a team. That turnover and lack of a shared vision resulted in struggles to scale the business and see a substantial outcome.

 Fast forward to February 2024. We’re coming up on five months of this journey and our first product launches soon. I’m itching to get a complete version of our product in the hands of our users. Over sixty companies have seen the designs for what we’re building and have expressed a serious desire to use it when it goes live.

 I’m spending this week with the full Cargado team in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and we’re being joined by a few of our investors as well. We’ll be visiting with a couple brokers and carriers while also taking time as a team to work together, in person. As a distributed team, we don’t get that opportunity too often. One of our investors pushed me early on to establish a practice of getting the team together on a quarterly basis. Q4 was in Laredo, where the team had the opportunity to meet with several carriers, forwarders, and customs brokers and get live feedback on our initial designs, and Q1 2024 is taking place in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

 We go into these offsites with the intention of spending time as a team, accomplishing some key initiatives, and learning. This trip will allow the team a first hand look at how brokerages and carriers in Mexico operate and how they can benefit from the technology we’re building at Cargado. This is also an opportunity for our team to get a deeper cultural understanding of Mexico, at least what Monterrey represents. We’ll have a carajillo or two and chicharron de ribeye.

Why we’re building Cargado

 I’ve spent the last seventeen years brokering freight, with the past decade focused on cross-border freight. While I don’t know everything about moving freight into and out of Mexico, I feel confident in my ability to dissect it and explain it for most people in the industry. I feel lucky to have realized a set of problems that exist related to the complexity of moving cross-border freight and am excited we’re building what we’re building at Cargado.

 There are two customs brokers, two-to-three carriers, potentially a warehouse, pickup and delivery facilities, a border, two different languages and cultures involved in every single shipment. There are so many different communication streams and data points occurring on every single shipment, via WhatsApp, email, text, Slack and lots of spreadsheets.

 With this whole nearshoring craze, there’s a rush by companies to establish their presence in Mexico. Whether it’s a manufacturer or retailer working to find the right real estate in Mexico, or a logistics provider working aggressively to establish a Mexico HQ and hire a strong Mexico leader, or trucking companies getting ready to ramp up as volume starts to increase. Everyone is sprinting to make Mexico a core focus of their strategy. Every board room is discussing nearshoring and how they plan to participate.

 We’re sprinting to build products for all those people who are riding the nearshoring wave. We understand where things can go sideways with cross-border freight, and we understand how challenging and complicated the whole process can be. We’re excited to be building tools to help solve those problems, with the first one ready to launch in about a month.

 We’ve opened up part of the product to carriers who service Mexico. We’ve also been walking brokers through the designs to share a preview of what we’re building. The feedback has been amazing so far. If you’re a carrier or broker involved in cross-border freight and want to grow your business while having a more streamlined experience, I would sign up for the waitlist and reach out at cargado.com.


---

## Issue #13: The Cross-Border Blueprint

**Published:** 2024-02-19  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-13-the-cross-border-blueprint

*I think the most common phrase I’ve said related to Mexico is “cross-border freight is complicated,” and I mean it. I can’t help it, most shippers and brokers find it to be a black hole.*


Cross-Border Freight is Complicated

 Cross-border freight is complicated. You’ve heard me say this before and I’ll keep saying it. It’s not just a matter of finding a Spanish-speaker in your office and having them schedule your appointments in Mexico. You need people who know what they’re doing in every aspect of a cross-border solution.

 In case you missed it, Mexico officially took over as the top trading partner to the United States, surpassing China. This is the result of a few key events that I’ve covered previously in Issue #2: Nearshoring is Booming:

NAFTA was replaced with the USMCA, which encouraged even more manufacturing to happen in North America (read: Mexico) than in Asia.

The Pandemic caused manufacturers, retailers, and distributors to rethink their reliance on China for production, shifting their reliance to Mexico, a friendlier and closer country.

The Trade War with China has been the latest straw, providing yet another reason for companies to rethink their supply chains. Trade tariffs on Chinese imports, coupled with the CHIPS act, have made it a lot more logical to rely on manufacturing in Mexico.

 Mexico is much easier to get to for leadership at HQ in the United States, it’s in similar time zones, there are more people in the U.S. who speak Spanish than Mandarin, and there’s stronger cultural alignment between the U.S. and Mexico than the U.S. and China. Between all those reasons and the fact that it’s a drastically shorter transit time from Mexico to the United States than from China, we’re primed to see a serious growth in manufacturing and production in Mexico, resulting in a serious need for improved infrastructure and solutions for our North American supply chain.

 Logistics companies are one category of the solutions involved in supporting North American supply chains for manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. Historically, Mexico was an afterthought for the leaders of most transportation departments. 3PLs and freight brokerages have long focused on supporting those companies’ domestic networks, with only a few supporting their cross-border needs. With all the focus on nearshoring, more companies than ever are expanding their service offering to the southern border, or have a serious desire to do so.

 I’ve heard from a ton of these companies who are attempting to expand into Mexico and so I thought I would share some guidance around this type of expansion.

Expanding to Mexico

 When I first launched the Mexico department at Coyote, as I told the story in Issue #6: How I got my start in Mexico, it was pure luck that I had found a carrier who could service Mexico. It wasn’t intentional until we started digging and found out that most of our domestic customers had cross-border freight. It just required someone to spearhead the growth efforts, people to support the operations, and a team to onboard carriers. It’s that simple, right?

 There isn’t a simple formula. Yes, there are some key roles you need to fill, but it takes a whole lot more than a resident Mexico expert to build a world class cross-border service offering. It requires a company-wide collaborative desire to build the service, it takes cultural understanding, and it takes focus in the key three areas: people, process, and technology.

Cultural Understanding

 Nearly twenty percent of people in the United States are of Latino or Hispanic origin, but it doesn’t mean you’ll find that same split at a logistics company. And while the United States and Mexico share a border that’s 1,954 miles long, the two countries are very different. The cost of living is drastically different, there’s two different languages, and two different cultures. What works in the U.S. doesn’t always work in Mexico, especially when it comes to performance management and in-office culture. Strong work ethics can be found on both sides of the border but it shows in different ways.

People

 Building a cross-border business takes subject matter experts who can lead. Your SMEs will collaborate internally with sales and operations people, externally with customers, and will likely spearhead opportunities that stretch well beyond a typical domestic bid. There are all sorts of unique requirements that go with cross-border freight that can make or break the success of a lane. You need people who understand and can translate those requirements, both figuratively and literally, to the operations team and carrier sales team.

 Your operations team typically works with both your facilities in Mexico and your customer’s customs brokers, coordinating and sharing paperwork between all the relevant parties. There’s so much complexity to this whole process, it’s not something you can just throw a Spanish-speaker at and have it solved. You need expert leaders who can establish the right process and roll it out across their teams.

Process

 Speaking of establishing the right process, process is one of the most important parts to moving cross-border freight for any shipper. It’s rare not to have an onboarding call with a customer and all the related parties to get everyone on the same page and map out some required protocols. While you may find there to be some similarities from one customer to another, there are a lot of moving pieces that can complicate things.

 It’s critical to define a process for how the team collects and shares information, how they communicate with customs brokers and facilities in Mexico, and how they collaborate with carriers moving the freight. The operations team is the glue of the whole service offering. Execution is everything. It’s also critical to design the right go-to-market motion and coverage strategy that aligns with the execution.

Technology

 Most Transportation Management Systems (TMS) aren’t built to support Mexico. Whether it’s the city data or the details at the border, the systems weren’t built with Mexico in mind. Little technology built for brokers, shippers, and carriers is built to support the full North American continent. There are some systems out there that support various aspects of cross-border movements, but most don’t in a clean way.

 It takes a lot of time, expertise, and patience to get your systems in a place to support cross-border freight but it’s also not abnormal, today, to operate across spreadsheets, WhatsApp, and email extensively. It’s the way this business has worked so far and it’s how it works today.

How do you get started?

 I would start by getting a leader in place who understands how cross-border freight works, particularly with respect to operations at the border. It’s so critical to nail – the last thing you want to do is take your first Mexico load from a critical domestic customer and then end up with egg on your face when a load gets stuck at the border for two weeks, potentially risking losing the account due to that one load.

 There’s a growing amount of brokerages who are supporting Mexico freight but it boils down to expertise, execution, and a leveraged carrier network that can support the business. Some are doing it through organic growth by a combination of hiring and training, while others have been acquiring specialized companies to accelerate that growth.

 We’re also building technology that will help with some of these issues and are excited to launch the first full product soon. We have already started onboarding some users to perform some basic actions but will start to see that impact in the near future. I’ll repeat two things, we’re not building a brokerage and we’re not building a TMS.

 Sign up for the waitlist at Cargado.com.

 Cargado Waitlist

 Subscribe now


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## Issue #12: Produce from Mexico

**Published:** 2024-02-12  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-12-produce-from-mexico

*Walking through a grocery store, you'll find a ton of brands with products made in Mexico. When it comes to the produce section, most of what you pick up will have a Mexico label on it.*


Post-Manifest Thoughts

 This year was my first time attending Manifest and experiencing conference life in Las Vegas. There were positives to it being in Vegas, like U2 at the Sphere, but things were incredibly spread out when it came to the Happy Hours and hotels, while seeing a mix of people attending Manifest, people attending a roofing conference, and those who were getting ready for the Super Bowl.

 It was great seeing so many people focused on advancing innovation and technology in supply chain in logistics, from the founders and startups focused on building that technology to the investors who back those startups. Leaders of some of the biggest companies in the space were in attendance and it was quite the networking event. Also, did I mention U2 at the Sphere rocked?

 As I continue to write this newsletter, I’ll be blending some content between Mexico, supply chain and logistics technology, and building Cargado. If there are any specific topics you’re interested in learning more about, respond to this newsletter or send me a DM on X/Twitter or LinkedIn.

A Produce Deep Dive

 Cross-border refrigerated freight has its own market dynamics and different imbalance challenges than dry van freight. With the Kansas City Chiefs winning the Super Bowl, we’re officially into the start of produce season. The Super Bowl is the unofficial kickoff (pun intended) of produce season, with Super Bowl Sunday representing the largest consumption day for avocados. Avocados ship out of Michoacán and Estado México, with 92% of that volume coming out of Michoacán specifically, according to Avocados from Mexico. Given the perfect weather conditions in southwestern Mexico, avocados are able to be grown and harvested year round, providing for consistent availability.

 Mexico represents 51% of US imports of fresh fruits and 69% of U.S. imports of fresh vegetables. Just walk around your local grocery store and you’re likely to find a significant amount of produce came from Mexico. Let’s take a look at some of the largest categories of produce that are shipped from Mexico to the United States:

 Avocados - $1.9B in export value, avocados represent the single most valuable fruit exported from Mexico. The majority ships out of Michoacán and ships year-round with the bulk of it starting in February and continuing through the summer.

 Bell Peppers - $600M in export value, with most coming out of Sinaloa and crossing through Nogales.

 Berries - $2.6B in export value (+7.2% growth from 2022 to 2023). Primarily grown in Jalisco and Michoacán, they represent just under 5% of Mexico’s overall fruit production. This includes strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries.

 Cucumbers - $244M in export value, with most volume coming out of Sinaloa, like bell peppers. This fruit also crosses through Nogales, primarily, for distribution throughout the United States.

 Limes - 92% of limes imported into the United States come from Mexico, where most are grown in Veracruz, Michoacán, and Colima, crossing through Laredo and Pharr TX into the United States.

 Peppers - $1B in export value, primarily grown in Chihuahua, Sonora, and Zacetecas, chili peppers see their peak volume shipping in September, October, and November, crossing through Nogales, El Paso, and Laredo into the United States.

 Tomatoes - $2.1B in export value, tomatoes are the most valuable vegetable exported from Mexico to the United States. They are primarily grown in Sinaloa and San Luis Potosi but benefit from vertically integrated greenhouses and can ship year round.

 This is just a select list of commodities that fall under the produce category that ship out of Mexico. Over $18B worth of fruit and vegetables were exported from Mexico to the United States in 2023. All of this represents a significant portion of the refrigerated and frozen freight that ships out of Mexico. The other products that require temperature control out of Mexico include frozen and prepared foods, chocolate, dairy products, some beverages, pharmaceuticals, and flowers and plants.

 Interestingly, when produce season slows down, refrigerated carriers tend to have more southbound freight than northbound, as they haul meat and chicken southbound, with a lot of that product headed to resort areas of Mexico like Cancun, Riviera Maya, Los Cabos, Puerto Vallarta, and Acapulco. While carriers with dry vans tend to have more northbound than southbound volume for most of the year, it flips for refrigerated carriers during the slow months, part of Q4 and most of Q1.

Building in Public

 We’re about three months into actively building Cargado since the team started in mid-November and I was lucky enough to visit Laredo recently and start introducing part of our product to our first set of users. While we ran into a bug or two occasionally, the team jumped in quickly to squash them and were communicating directly via WhatsApp with those who needed assistance. We’re excited to help bring cross-border Mexico freight online and enable everyone involved in the process to collaborate more effectively.

 If you’re interested in learning more about Cargado, you can sign up for our waitlist at cargado.com. We’re building tools for everyone involved in freight moving across the U.S.-Mexico border and look forward to sharing more soon!

 Subscribe now


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## Issue #11: The Freight Industry Is Changing

**Published:** 2024-02-05  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-11-the-freight-industry-is

*The freight industry is changing. It’s evolving for the better. It may not seem like that right now but things are moving in the right direction.*


Layoffs suck for most involved — it’s incredibly disruptive to have your job end via Zoom, Meets, or worse, Teams. It’s alarming and sends your world into a tailspin. Rather than letting things spin out of control, if you have an entrepreneurial itch, now is the time to scratch it, rather than letting things bubble up.

 Think about the problems you ran into on a daily basis. Think about the problems your coworkers, customers, and carriers have. It’s likely a repeatable problem that happens elsewhere in the industry. Maybe you can solve that problem with technology.

Freight Tech is changing

 I know it seems like I keep referencing my brother’s podcast, The Freight Pod, but it’s just such an addicting thing to listen to if you’re a student of the freight industry and if you love this industry. Listening to his episode from a couple weeks ago with Eddie Leshin, you can hear how much technology factored into the success of American Backhaulers, along with the tech that carried over and is still present today at CH Robinson, and the same concepts are applied at Coyote, Arrive, and so many other brokerages. Technology is central to every brokerage business. Yes, People and Process are also core, but technology is on the forefront of everyone’s minds right now.

 We’re seeing a divergence happen as tech startups in the logistics space are splitting into two camps, those who are trying to disrupt and replace legacy providers (we saw how that has worked out for the DFMs — and I was guilty of trying to do this at Forager), and then you have supply chain enablers. Supply chain enablers are the companies building software to help logistics providers, trucking companies, and manufacturers do their jobs more efficiently, generate more revenue, and connect with more parties.

 When I was building Forager, albeit fairly late into the process, my dad told me that we had an identity crisis. “You’re trying to build two companies at the same time, a brokerage and a tech company. You need to pick one and stop doing the other, you can’t do both.” It didn’t fully make sense to me until it was too late, and we ended up being acquired by Arrive at the end of January 2022, thankfully resulting in a different outcome than the one that Convoy experienced a few months ago.

I learned my lesson and picked technology this time around.

 I’m a big believer that freight brokerages and forwarders aren’t going away. There will always be a need for service and support when things go sideways. Network effects at large brokerages are real, and quite often a key part of their differentiator. Everything boils down to price and service and you need scale to achieve both of those things profitably. Yes, you can build and manage a small brokerage with top notch service, but you likely aren’t landing Fortune 500 shippers who will dump a ton of volume into your network.

 If you’ve been listening to Andrew’s podcast, you’ll know by now that there are two different models for brokerages, the centralized split model, aka Chicago-style, where you have a demand side (shippers) and a supply side (carriers) who each focus on their speciality. You have even deeper specialization when it comes to operations and specialized modes like Mexico, Canada, intermodal, or drayage. On the other side, there are brokerages who operate in the cradle-to-grave decentralized model. The case can be made that a brand new brokerage will be better suited to operate as cradle-to-grave until there’s enough volume to warrant splitting out a carrier group.

 There’s effectively two playbooks to choose from, but you have to factor in a few other decisions when building a brokerage:

Transportation Management System (TMS): build or buy? Brokerages have poured tens of millions of dollars into building their own proprietary TMS, built the way they need it, using the lingo they need to use, with customer codes and carrier codes and load numbers all formatted a certain “unique” way, even though this same pattern is seen in all TMSs.

Scheduling Support: brokerages will hire as many customer service representatives as possible in order to execute on scheduling requirements for every single load. It’s all about brute forcing this workflow because no one has solved scheduling and it’s a complete mess.

Pricing: Everyone works to blend two key sources, their historical load data and pricing data from either a load board or FreightWaves. Brokerages pay 6 to 7 figures for access to these load boards for posting and pricing, while desperately trying to avoid falling into a trap with a fraudulent carrier.

Coverage: brokerages tend to flood their floor with carrier sales reps, again brute forcing their workload and developing a backhaul-based carrier network, with reps split out into regions who consistently call the same carriers and store that tribal knowledge in their heads, waiting for the next load to pop up. A lot of the best carrier reps at a brokerage will tend to ignore the automated matching suggestions that their system pumps out, thinking they’ll outsmart the machine. The most common method among brokers has been to “post and pray” — posting all their freight to a public load board and hoping they find coverage with a carrier who won’t double broker their freight or steal a load.

Tracking: my first job at Coyote was tracking freight. It was before we had cell phone GPS or API-powered tracking. I was calling drivers, asking for updates, and then updating the system. Today, we thankfully have great products like Project44 but it’s still completely dependent on a broker using the tool properly and a carrier opting in properly.

AP/AR: getting paid and paying carriers is absolutely critical to a freight brokerage business. Let’s ignore the whole issue with floating the difference in pay terms and focus on the actual workflow. Oftentimes, brokerages use one system for invoicing customers, another system for paying carriers, and both those systems are either integrated with their TMS or their accounting software. Sometimes, nothing is integrated and there’s a lot of double- or triple-entry.

Can one company solve all those issues I just listed?

 Absolutely not. Some of the greatest software companies in the world couldn’t solve all these problems with one app. Are you telling me that a freight brokerage can? I think we’re approaching the end of the days of brokerages building their own software and adding true enterprise value that outweighs the cost to build it. None of this work is secret sauce. Everyone runs the same playbook.

 Software companies who fall into the Supply Chain Enablers category are going to help move the industry forward by taking chunks of this workflow and working to digitize, optimize, and automate it. Yes, you need a comprehensive TMS that acts as your freight command center. But that TMS should be capable of pulling in the best products that solve some of these super complex issues, rather than forcing you to use all their built-in tools. It’s about building an eco-system collaboratively, not building it on your own.

 I’ve been fortunate to see and invest in some great startups who are working on solving these issues (you can see which ones on my LinkedIn, not using this post as a plug). I’ve also seen great software from companies like Mastery and Highway that I wish I had the chance to invest in, and will keep recommending simply because I think they help move the industry forward.

It’s time to build better tech for logistics and supply chain.

 It’s time for collaboration and it’s time to build great logistics technology. All the problems I just talked about are purely from the perspective of a freight brokerage. Freight forwarders have similar but different problems that they need solved. Manufacturers have needs from procurement to purchasing to logistics to distribution, all of which fall under the supply chain category. Carriers have trouble getting paid, trouble sharing tracking details, and trouble scaling their business past a certain point. Fraud is rampant across the industry and the existing players aren’t doing enough to fix it, they’re allowing it for the sake of revenue.

 Maybe we need better tools that enable all these critical parties involved in the global supply chain, rather than more digital freight brokerages trying to put the big guys out of business. There are a lot of smart people who lost their jobs due to layoffs/restructuring, or that are sitting somewhere twiddling their thumbs, hating their day job. Think about those complaints you hear from your coworkers and your customers day in and day out. I think about the complaints I heard from my coworkers while at Arrive and that was a factor in the decision I made to start Cargado.

Are you building in this space?

 If you’re building something cool in this space, there’s so many early-stage investors out there who understand supply chain and logistics. I know of a lot of great early investors who are focused on investing in logistics and supply chain technology:

Ironspring Ventures (Ty Findley)

Grid Capital (Peter Christman)

Zenda Capital (Esteban Reyes)

Wischoff Ventures (Nichole Wischoff)

Primary Ventures (Zach Fredericks)

Fontinalis Partners (Chris Stallman)

Equal Venture (Rick Zullo)

Dynamo Ventures (Santosh Sankar)

Autotech Ventures (Burak Cendek)

Schematic Ventures (Julian Counihan)

Bain Capital (Ajay Agarwal, Zeeza Cole)

 I’m excited about what we’re building at Cargado and excited to partner with other startups in the space that are working to help move the industry forward.

 Subscribe now


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## Issue #10: How freight gets across the U.S.-Mexico border

**Published:** 2024-01-29  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-10-how-freight-gets-across

*There is so much complexity to cross-border freight. It's not just the language or the border, it's every part of the process.*


Why did the B1 driver cross the border? To get to the other side with a load since that’s the only way B1 drivers can cross the border. Sorry, dumb joke. Let’s get into it.

 Freight moving between the United States and Mexico moves across the border in a few different ways, by truck, rail, air, and even sea. We’re going to focus on over-the-road moves in this issue. When it comes to cross-border truckload shipments, you have two methods for shipping freight, transloading and direct (aka through-trailer or door-to-door, sometimes abbreviated as D2D). We’re going to use Guadalajara, JAL to Chicago, IL as our example.

Transloading

 For a transload shipment, logistics companies typically hire three or four different parties to complete an end-to-end transload move. They hire a Mexican carrier to pick up the load in Guadalajara, JAL, who brings the load up to the border, Nuevo Laredo, TAM in this case, and then a transfer carrier will take that load from Nuevo Laredo to Laredo TX. Sometimes the Mexican carrier hires the transfer carrier, sometimes the freight broker hires the transfer, and sometimes the customer or customs broker hires the customs broker.

 Once the freight gets across the border, it gets unloaded at a transload facility, or a cross-dock, in Laredo TX. That transload facility gets hired by the shipper or freight broker. In some scenarios the facility is owned by the customs broker, which can streamline the process, and other times, it’s a third party facility. It just depends on who’s making the decision and whether or not the customs broker can support the transloading.

 The last piece of this move is hiring a U.S. carrier to move the load from Laredo, TX to Chicago, IL. Typically, you would see a Chicago-based carrier moving that load as a backhaul, which ends up being cheaper than using direct capacity with carriers based at the border. The reason why a lot of freight doesn’t transload is because it either is packaged in a way that it can’t, the beneficial cargo owner has security or quality protocols that prevent it, or they simply don’t know that this option exists. Most palletized freight should be able to be transloaded, but you’ll often see automotive, food products, and high-value goods requiring through-trailer capacity.

Direct / Through-Trailer / Door-to-Door (D2D)

 The other option, the one most shippers seem to prefer, is direct capacity. The freight stays on the same trailer from pickup in Mexico to final destination in the U.S.. Here’s where things get even more complicated, as there are actually three different methods for a direct shipment moving from Mexico to the United States.

Option 1: Direct with a CDL Driver

 In this case, the freight broker is hiring a carrier that’s typically based in the U.S. (or Canada) who has a terminal in the appropriate border city. So we’re going to hire a carrier in Laredo, TX that has trailers moving into and out of Mexico, in search of a carrier who happens to have trailers in Guadalajara. That carrier is going to subcontract the Mexico portion to a Mexico partner carrier, who will pick up the load in Guadalajara and bring it to the border.

 Once the trailer reaches Nuevo Laredo, TAM, a border transfer carrier crosses the trailer to Laredo, TX and hands it off to the U.S.-based carrier. Their driver, a CDL driver, will take the load to the final destination.

Option 2: Direct with a traditional B1 Driver

 The second method for a direct shipment is different once the load hits the Mexican border, where that Mexican partner carrier drops off the trailer. The U.S.-based carrier has a B1 driver take the load from Nuevo Laredo, TAM, cross it, and deliver it. The B1 driver is technically employed by a separate Mexican company in partnership with the U.S.-based carrier and is leased to that U.S.-based carrier.

Option 3: Direct with a B1 Driver with International Blue Plates

 The Mexican government allows U.S.-based carriers to get special blue license plates for their tractors, which enables them to drive anywhere in Mexico. That means that, in some instances, the same driver with both international blue plates and a U.S. license plate will move a load under a B1 visa from a pickup in Mexico, to the border, then that driver crosses the load and ultimately delivers it, all with a single tractor and no handoff at the border. This setup is rare and only some carriers are able to do this move.

Complexity is what makes Mexico freight fun

 It’s rare that you’ll find two shipments or lanes to be similar from beginning to end. Yes, you can have a similar origin and destination pairing, but usually things will diverge from there. In some instances, the customs broker manages the border crossing move, which eliminates the ability to book B1 capacity. Eliminating B1 capacity significantly decreases the amount of available trucks that can move a given cross-border load, which would typically result in increased costs.

 Add in two customs brokers, two languages, two cultures, and a border and you have a whole bunch of steps where a potential error can occur. Up until recently, I actually had no idea about the existence of these blue plates that allow a single driver to go from pickup in Mexico to delivery in the United States. When the market picks up again, I wonder how often we’ll see carriers running this setup as it lengthens the time a driver who can drive in the U.S. is actually driving in the U.S., versus driving in Mexico.

Why I started Cargado

 This complexity is why I felt the need to start Cargado. Trade between the United States and Mexico is going to continue to grow and the demand for cross-border capacity will grow with it. That increase in volume is going to lead to a more strained supply chain and we have a vision for how to create a better experience for everyone involved in that process. We’ve spent a lot of time with carriers and brokers, getting a deep understanding of their challenges, and working to create solutions that help solve some of those challenges. I’m excited to roll out the first part of that product this week to carriers, which is why I’m heading down to Laredo.

Sales Tactics

 Speaking of launching my second startup, last week, I had the opportunity to speak at a corporate event in front of a group of top sales executives. I was asked to share my perspective on selling into startups and so I figured I would share some of that advice here as well:

 Blowing up a founder on the day of a big funding announcement or product launch is the absolute worst time. Their inbox is exploding and they’re likely enjoying the launch or knee-deep in responding to critical questions from customers. Wait a few weeks to reach out, they either made their decision on your competing product months ago, or they haven’t made it yet.

 Automated messaging, whether it’s via LinkedIn or email, is obnoxious and we see right through it. It won’t work. Either be specific, intentional, and personal, or just lay off blasting people with long, rambling messages that don’t land.

 Don’t sell them your product right away, get an understanding of what their pain points might be and tailor your pitch around those pain points. Develop an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for different types of customers and how you would solve their problems.

 Don’t send WebEx (or Teams) invites. Most of us use Zoom in startup land. 😉

 When selling cross-border Mexico solutions to shippers, I always boiled it down to three key themes – price, service, and complexity. If they started talking about how much their current provider costs, or maybe rates were just raised, you know price is the key driver for them. If they talk about how important on-time pickup and delivery is, how critical communication is, or how the last guy kept delivering late, it’s obviously service that you’re going to focus on pitching. The last one was always my favorite – complexity – when someone doesn’t understand the first section of this blog post. They hand it off to you because they just don’t get it and they don’t want to deal with it. Take it and run with it!

 You can find the key pain points your customer has and boil them down to a few simple themes and use those themes to develop ICPs and solutions that land more effectively with potential customers. Don’t just run the same playbook every single time, copy and paste.

 Funny thing is that I made a joke that some salesperson from an EDI integration company was going to reach out to me after that event trying to sell me EDI integrations and, sure enough, not one, but TWO of them reached out trying to pitch me on their respective products. Major fail.

P.S., a few links to share:

 If you missed last week’s announcement, you can find my full post about our $3M pre-seed round and the launch of Cargado here.

FreightWaves also covered the launch of Cargado

 I joined Thomas Werdine at ThinkFreight for a podcast (Youtube | Apple | Spotify)

 My brother, Andrew Silver, had a phenomenal episode with Jordan Graft, founder and CEO of Highway, on his podcast The Freight Pod (Apple | Spotify)


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## Introducing Cargado

**Published:** 2024-01-22  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-9-introducing-cargado

*I’m proud to announce that Cargado is out of stealth, with a $3M round from Ironspring Ventures, Wischoff Ventures, Zenda Capital, Proeza Ventures, Sahil Bloom, Craig Fuller, & other angel investors.*


Background

 It was nearly ten years ago that I first dabbled in cross-border Mexico freight, a story I recently told in Issue #6: How I got my start with Mexico. Mexico has been on my mind ever since that first trip to Laredo, TX.

 Fast forward through my time starting Coyote’s Mexico business, building and selling Forager, and integrating it with Arrive Logistics, and we come to today, when we finally start to pull back the curtain on my next project, Cargado.

Nearshoring is Booming

 If you haven’t ever read a post from me on LinkedIn, X, or Substack, then you haven’t heard me talk about how much trade is growing between the United States and Mexico. In fact, I devoted an entire post just covering nearshoring, Issue #2: Nearshoring is Booming. To recap parts of that post, let’s review:

The Global COVID Pandemic shut down the world and forced companies to rethink their supply chains. Similar labor costs in Mexico with significant benefits given the proximity has resulted in companies moving manufacturing from Asia to Mexico.

The U.S.-China Trade War is driving a deeper divide between the two countries and companies are employing friendshoring in addition to nearshoring – relying more on a friendlier country like Mexico.

The USMCA drove automotive production closer to home too – increasing the number of parts that need to be produced in North America from 62.5% to 75%.

The Suez Canal has had two major disruptions in the past three years. When I wrote that newsletter back in early December, we hadn’t even experienced the most recent challenges with attacks on ships passing through the Suez Canal.

Brexit made trade with the EU a bit more challenging, giving U.S. companies even more incentives to focus on deals with Mexico.

The semiconductor chip shortage caused big concerns among manufacturers of smartphones, computers, cars, all types of electronics, and so many other products that rely on these complex chips. They can’t just be made anywhere, and the U.S. government is working hard to incentivize companies to produce chips in North America through the CHIPS act.

 Over the past decade alone, trade between the United States and Mexico has seen remarkable growth, expanding by 58%, from $493 billion in 2012 to $779 billion in 2022. With companies like Tesla, Mattel, Unilever, and Kia Motors investing billions of dollars collectively in their manufacturing footprint in Mexico, we’re just at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to demand in Mexico.

What’s the impact from all this nearshoring?

 We’re going to see a lot of growth in U.S.-Mexico logistics. Logistics companies are quickly expanding into Mexico – we saw it when Arrive bought Forager and we’ve seen several other companies make strategic acquisitions to expand services into Mexico, or hire experienced leaders who can build a Mexico service offering.

 More and more manufacturers are increasing their production in Mexico and need more support for their cross-border operations. The processes involved in these operations are severely outdated and working with legacy systems that weren’t built for managing this type of freight.

 Carriers who move cross-border freight also play a critical role in this expanding market and, like logistics service providers and customs brokers involved in the process, have long operated off of tribal knowledge and relationships, something that won’t go away but needs to evolve.

 We’re going to see new products coming out of Mexico that previously came in through the port of Long Beach, and we’ll see volume increase out of most major markets in Mexico along with volume flowing through all the major border cities.

There’s one huge issue with all this growth.

 The systems in use today cannot support this growth. There are very few standards, very few tools, and very few innovations in this space. We plan to address a lot of these issues with the technology we’re going to build at Cargado.

 While I’m not going to outline our roadmap today, I want to make two things crystal clear: we are not building a brokerage and we are not here to disrupt cross-border supply chains. They’re way too fragile and complex to break. We have a deep understanding of the challenges that exist in every aspect of this process and believe that there are better ways to manage these processes and support these relationships.

So who is ‘we’?

 I spent a lot of time looking for a technical co-founder after leaving Arrive. I met some incredibly talented technical leaders but it wasn’t until I was introduced to Rylan Hawkins that I knew I had found my match. Rylan has a really unique background, having spent time playing collegiate and professional soccer (three months with the New England Revolution!) before deciding he wanted to start a tech career and joined Microsoft. He spearheaded the Windows search integration of Bing and led the team building the internalization platform for Windows 8 applications, which shipped to over 1 billion customers.

 He then joined Convoy in 2016 as one of the first engineers and eventually grew to become General Manager of two of Convoy’s most successful programs – Convoy Go and Convoy for Brokers — which generated a combined $300M in gross revenue and fostered a deeper level of insight on the potential for logistics technology innovation.

 Back in October, I flew out to Seattle shortly after Convoy closed its doors to try and recruit Rylan and some engineers who had been at Convoy. Every engineer I met said they would follow Rylan wherever he went. We had to narrow the group to three in order to launch Cargado without over-hiring right out of the gate. I’m excited that Steven Wojcio, Jonathan Witten, and Teagan Horkan joined the team as they all have amazing backgrounds and have already contributed greatly to the early technical decisions made as we start building the product.

Our Backers

 This team goes deeper than me, Rylan, and our three engineers. We raised a $3M pre-seed round from an incredible group of investors who are all passionate about logistics, supply chain, and LatAm.

 Our lead investor, Ty Findley at Ironspring Ventures, has done several other deals in our category in his career, including FreightWaves, Project44, OneRail, and Solvento.

Esteban Reyes at Zenda Capital, previously a fintech founder who launched his own fund, has a deep focus on both supply chain and logistics, having invested in OneRail and Solvento.

Nichole Wischoff, solo GP and founder of Wischoff Ventures, has operating experience and a vast network, with investments in companies like Loop, among so many other startups.

 We also welcomed Proeza Ventures, who backed Forager, and focuses on all things mobility, logistics, and LatAm. (and they also invested in Solvento with Ironspring and Zenda… sensing a theme?)

Sahil Bloom, was also in the deal and has been a huge help in how I’ve started to develop my social media presence.

Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves, and a close friend and mentor of mine, headlines an incredible list of over twenty-five entrepreneurs and operators, smart people who have built 9-figure businesses, who invested their capital and have also invested their time supporting our new venture. I’ve been fortunate to make several angel investments in the past few years and am excited to have some incredible angel investors at the table this time around.

What’s next?

 We’re committed to building tools and resources that we believe the industry deserves. We’ve learned a lot from our collective time at industry-defining companies like Coyote, Convoy, Forager, and Arrive Logistics, along with technology titans like Google and Microsoft. We fundamentally believe that the world needs a more connected supply chain.

 We already have a group of really strong beta customers who are going to start using the product and sharing feedback soon. Once we feel confident our product delights our beta users, we’ll open up the product to more companies.

 If you’re involved in cross-border freight, you can learn more about Cargado and join the waitlist at cargado.com. I’ll continue to write about the journey of building Cargado, along with how things are evolving in cross-border freight and all things freight tech, so go ahead and subscribe to this newsletter once you finish reading this sentence:

 Subscribe now


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## Issue #8: Security in Mexico

**Published:** 2024-01-15  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-8-security-in-mexico

*Cargo theft is one of the hottest topics in cross-border logistics. It's less daunting than it feels.*


Let’s get technical again and talk about all things security in Mexico. It’s been one of the more consistent themes that I’ve seen in my nearly ten years of involvement in cross-border freight – every shipper is worried about their freight being stolen in Mexico.

 First, let’s start with a jaw-dropping fact: freight brokers and trucking companies are not liable for the freight while it’s in Mexico. The amount you can claim against a provider is equal to about $2,000 for a truckload, whether it’s worth $100k or $250k.

 According to Reliance Partners’s Mexico Cargo Hijacking Data Portal, 6,030 loads were hijacked from January 2023 to September 2023, an 8% increase from the same time period in 2022. Only 1% of those hijackings occur in the Mexican states that border the United States. 85.5% of the hijackings took place in three states: Estado de Mexico, Puebla, and Michoacan.

What kind of freight gets stolen in Mexico?

 Criminals in Mexico target the type of freight that can easily be sold on the black market. In some cases, drivers will be pulled over, have the product stolen or broken into, but they’ll be able to keep their truck. In other cases, the truck, trailer, and product are all stolen. Interestingly, I’ve heard of carriers who eventually get their equipment back, but it takes working through some intermediaries to try and recover it.

 Some common products that are known to be targeted:

 Appliances

 Electronics

 Tires

 Tequila and mezcal

 Food and groceries

 Construction materials

 Most major appliance, electronics, and tire manufacturers have plants in Mexico. A lot of construction material companies have products coming out of Mexico, including flooring, doors, windows, and other core materials. And tequila, mezcal, and a lot of food products are produced in Mexico and can easily be resold within Mexico.

 Every shipment carries a level of risk of theft in Mexico and it’s something that factors into the type of freight a carrier will haul, and where a manufacturer should consider setting up shop if still in the early stages of establishing its nearshoring strategy. This risk is one of the drivers behind the heavy investments in markets close to or located at the border, like Monterrey, Reynosa, Matamoros, Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexicali, and Tijuana. Aside from Monterrey (155mi from Laredo) and Chihuahua (235mi from El Paso), the rest of those cities are located on the Mexican side of the border.

How do you improve security and reduce the risk of theft in Mexico?

 Just like everything else in logistics, there isn’t a single silver bullet that solves all the theft issues in Mexico. It takes a combination of strong SOPs, quality cross-border partners, and some better protections in certain aspects of the process.

Insurance: freight brokers and trucking companies are not required to insure the freight while it’s in Mexico, which is very different from how it works in the United States or Canada. It is on the beneficial cargo owner to buy coverage on the freight if they need it insured. This is where shippers and brokers will partner up with someone like Mark Vickers at Reliance Partners. He leads their Borderless Coverage program that provides customer-specific coverage in Mexico for damage and theft.

CTPAT Suppliers: Companies who manufacture in Mexico will benefit from better security protocols that are followed within CTPAT-certified facilities and carriers. Generally, these security requirements also satisfy the requirements that Borderless Coverage needs to provide insurance in Mexico. See below for a deeper definition of CTPAT and a related program, AEO/OEA.

Tracking: Understanding where the freight is from pickup to the border is absolutely critical. You may get that visibility working with a freight brokerage or 3PL, or by leveraging GPS links for tracking, or using a tracking device like Tive. Knowing where the freight is at all times will provide a better sense of security, although it can still get hijacked and disappear at any moment.

CTPAT: CTPAT stands for Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. It’s a security program that’s overseen by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). It was created in November 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, by the U.S. government as a way to improve security for the United States, including tightening up security within North American supply chains.

 Most freight brokers, given that they’re non-asset based, don’t have CTPAT certification. Facilities shipping to the United States and the carriers who haul that freight, along with facilities that manage it at the border, are required to be CTPAT-certified if the manufacturer wants to maintain their CTPAT certification. It allows all parties involved in the process to keep our supply chains more secure.

 The CTPAT program entails several security measures that include guard shacks, fences, security cameras, fingerprint scanning, and identity verification. It also includes strict documentation and procedural requirements, as every step of the CTPAT requirements needs to be satisfied fully. CBP inspects and validates these companies in order to certify facilities and carriers.

AEO / OEA: Authorized Economic Operator, or Operador Económico Autorizado in Spanish,  is Mexico’s version of the CTPAT program. Some shippers require OEA carriers, some only want CTPAT, while some will accept either. This program is managed by Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT).

So what should you do when it comes to security with Mexico freight?

 Some advice to shippers who are reading this: don’t panic now that you’ve gotten to this point in this newsletter. I’m guessing you’re just now realizing that you don’t have insurance on your freight in Mexico. We can all agree it would be great if the Mexican government required it like it’s required in the United States, but we’re not there yet. There’s a few things to do to better protect your freight.

Employ and follow the CTPAT process. Your suppliers and carriers in Mexico need to be CTPAT certified as it will prevent freight from being stolen and drugs or weapons from being smuggled with your freight. Freight caught with contraband can be taken by customs.

Work with the right cross-border service providers. It’s typically a blend of brokers/3PLs and carriers who have expertise in cross-border freight. They typically have a team who manages cross-border operations and understand all this complexity I just explained. You can trust them to help fix an issue in Mexico. It’s fine if the broker isn’t CTPAT certified, but make sure their underlying carriers are!

Get insurance. Either ask your providers if they have it (you need to pay for it on a per-load basis) or reach out to Mark Vickers at Reliance Partners and get a quote directly. My advice – and no, this isn’t sponsored by Reliance, I just love their product – is to get the insurance yourself rather than asking each provider to get it.

Tracking. Ask your providers to provide tracking information, whether it’s regular updates twice per day, or if needed, more consistent, via an integration, or automated emails.

Security Escorts for High Risk High Value (HRHV) freight. Often times, especially with tequila and electronics coming out of the Guadalajara, JAL area, shippers will hire security escorts that accompany the trucks. Those trucks might be required to arrive early in the morning for loading, and once they leave the facility, they have to drive straight to the border without making any unplanned stops.

 Some of the most heavily populated areas in Mexico are perfectly safe and there are low levels of theft in those areas. Freight moves fine typically, but accidents can still occur. It all boils down to following those steps and developing your own best practices when it comes to securing freight. Working with cheap providers can lead to cheap service and cheap equipment, which can lead to an accident.

 Hopefully this write-up about Mexico security and risk management can help more than scare you. This is definitely one of the challenges but, as nearshoring drives more volume growth in Mexico, security is going to become a bigger concern and the hope is that we’ll see investment by the Mexican government to help improve some of those challenges.

 Stay tuned for next week’s newsletter - it should be loaded with some fun news. Subscribe below to be the first to read about it!


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## Issue #7: A Carta Porte Deep Dive

**Published:** 2024-01-08  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-7-whats-the-carta-porte

*Towards the end of 2020, Mexico introduced plans to roll out the Carta Porte 3.0. As of January 2024, we still don't have a fully implemented Carta Porte 3.0 but will soon.*


Alright, this one is going to be pretty technical but should be helpful for those moving cross-border freight or aspiring to do so. I’ve received a lot of calls, texts, and DMs from people in the industry asking for more clarity on what’s going on with the Carta Porte 3.0. The first few days of 2024 started off with a good amount of confusion and delays, leading to some temporary supply chain disruptions. I reached out to a few leaders in the industry who manage substantial amounts of cross-border freight, in order to get some clarity on the topic.

 In this newsletter, we’re going to cover:

 What is a Carta Porte and why is it required?

 What is a CFDI?

 Complemento Carta Porte explanation

 Carta Porte 3.0 and what’s coming with these changes.

What is a Carta Porte?

 One of the contributing factors to the complexity of freight moving from Mexico to the United States is the paperwork that accompanies exports from Mexico, including the carta porte, which acts in a similar fashion to a bill of lading that most U.S. logistics and transportation companies use on a daily basis. However, Mexico requires significantly more information and provides the government with more control over businesses in Mexico.

Carta Porte (pronounced: /ˈkɑr.tə ˈpɔr.teɪ/)

Definition: The Carta Porte is a legal document used in Mexico's transportation industry. It functions as a transportation invoice or bill of lading that accompanies freight during its transit. The document includes detailed information about the goods being transported, such as the origin, destination, quantity, type, and value of the cargo, as well as the vehicle used and its route.

Why does Mexico require the carta porte?

 The carta porte ultimately enables Mexico to collect tax revenue but also helps the government in a few key ways:

Verification of Goods and Services: the document includes in depth information on what’s actually going inside the truck, where it came from and where it’s going, along with the planned route.

Prevention of Tax Evasion: strict requirements around the accuracy of the document prevents businesses from underreporting or evading taxes. It also closed loopholes that had been exploited in the past.

Improved Tracking and Auditing: by integrating the Carta Porte and the CFDI (Mexico’s digital invoice system), it allows the SAT (The Mexican Tax Administration Service) to keep track of the sales and movement of goods.

Compliance: in order to properly comply with Carta Porte requirements, companies need to maintain transparent records of every transportation-related transaction. Failure to comply will result in serious penalties.

Supply Chain Transparency: the fact that the government requires this standardized and digitized documentation is leading to improved transparency for tax, logistical, and operational reasons.

Wait, what’s a CFDI?

 CFDI stands for “Comprobante Fiscal Digital por Internet,” which translates to “Digital Tax Receipt via the Internet.” It’s the electronic billing system used in Mexico. CFDI is the official electronic invoice format for validating all commercial transactions in Mexico. It enables Mexico to collect taxes, which is why it was mentioned in the above section about the Carta Porte.

 The CFDI includes all pertinent details about a commercial transaction, including the issuer and recipient identification, a description of the goods or services, the total amount, taxes applied, and the method of payment. This electronic document replaces traditional paper invoices. The government requires it to be generated, transmitted, and stored digitally. Additionally, an authorized service provider is required to validate and certify the CFDIs before they can be issued.

 The CFDI applies to any commercial transaction, but when it comes to transportation-related invoices, the CFDI system is integrated with the Complemento Carta Porte.

Complemento Carta Porte

 The next document that’s included in the cross-border process is this digital document mentioned previously: the Complemento Carta Porte. While the driver needs to carry the traditional physical Carta Porte, the Complemento Carta Porte is also required digitally. It acts as a digital extension that is integrated with the CFDI, but it doesn’t act as a standalone document. These are the transportation-specific details that complement the CFDI.

Carta Porte 3.0

 Towards the end of 2020, Mexico announced the Carta Porte 3.0 as it continues to push the whole country towards a more digital future, particularly within their supply chains. It includes enhanced regulations and guidelines for the documentation of goods moved within Mexico and for cross-border freight. It also requires increased details in the Carta Porte document, including comprehensive information about the goods, their transportation routes, vehicle details, and other logistics-related data.

 The improvements made to the Carta Porte ranged from the depth of details about the goods and transportation, the integration with their digital invoicing process, CFDI, improved security and compliance to fight illicit transportation practices, an electronic format with validation, and stricter enforcement and penalties.

 While these changes can be concerning and frustrating, Mexico’s goal is to decrease tax evasion and improve the overall Mexican supply chain.

So what’s next?

 Carta Porte 3.0 is finally being rolled out but, as 2024 kicked off, significant delays were experienced at the border on northbound crossings. I reached out to a few industry experts to get some more feedback on what happened, why, and what’s next.

Jordan Dewart, President of Redwood Mexico: “While it is being rolled out now, official 3.0 implementation is delayed until March 31st, with no fines occurring until that date. January 2nd and 3rd, things were incredibly hectic but things seem to have smoothed out. There has been a lot of confusion between the government, customs brokers, and truckers. The current administration is dead set on rolling this out and so March is really looking like a reality.”

Jess Billedo, GM of Mexico at Arrive Logistics: “Ambiguity has been a common theme with the Carta Porte implementation, which has resulted in various postponements and delays over 2 years. Fines will be applicable if a carrier is transiting within MX Territory without the CCP. Where the SAT is providing lenience, is with what version of the CCP is being utilized. The CCP is mandatory, but carriers are not required to utilize the CCP 3.0 or liable for fees until March, 31st 2024.

 “Making the CCP mandatory without fines essentially is aimed to put pressure on the industry to adapt to the new regulations, but provides some flexibility with the transition. With that being said, the ambiguity causes confusion and challenges for customers, carriers, and shippers alike, as some may be in a different state of adoption than others. Our team has been working closely with our carrier and custom broker partners to ensure we are receiving the most up to date information, and as requirements continue to be clarified.”

Alex Jennings, MX Director, Carrier Sales at Coyote Logistics: “Confusion is a great way to sum up the entire situation. Our understanding of the March 31st deadline solely pertains to version 2.0 vs 3.0. No extension of fines. Carriers and shippers today must submit a CCP or risk fines, but are able to do so based on required fields in version 2.0”

Jess Billedo, General Manager of Mexico at Arrive Logistics: “This seems to be the seventh time that Carta Porte 3.0 has been pushed out as far as fines go. It appeared to be rolling out on January 1st but we’re now hearing it won’t be until March. That said, a lot of carriers are pushing to move to Carta Porte 3.0 in preparation for the changes.”

Deepak Chhugani, CEO of Nuvocargo: “As of January 1st, the fines for failing to issue a CFDI invoice with a Complemento Carta Porte regulation are fully enforceable. While we are unaware of any fines issued as of today, it is imperative that carriers correctly issue the Complemento Carta Porte with all invoices related to the Mexico leg of a shipment before the shipment leaves the origin. From what we’ve seen, transfer carriers are struggling the most with the updated process, generating issues and delays with the border crossings.”

What’s the biggest impact?

Dewart (Redwood): “In my opinion, it will be during the enforcement of the highway inspections. How will they keep seal integrity and avoid hijackings when the government/military starts doing random inspections on the highway? It’s going to be chaos!”

Billedo (Arrive): “The biggest impact is that Customs Brokers will be requiring the CCP to generate crossing documents. We’ve already seen some delays with crossings due to this, which in turn has delayed overall transits and deliveries. The large majority of the process is in effect and understood by the industry given that the CCP 2.0 has already been required for transit with Mexico. These changes will cause short term disruptions and all parties work to align on expectations and update their processes to be compliant by the end of March.”

Jennings (Coyote): “The biggest impact will be on smaller shippers and carriers that don’t have the resources or tools to properly complete the requirements for each shipment or in a timely manner. Larger businesses have been aware of the requirement and have personnel and tools in place to manage since the original discussions in 2021. The challenge today stems from the laws being vague and interpreted differently by nearly all parties.

 “It will continue to be a challenge and an extra step in the cross border sales and operations process. It comes at an unfortunate time as Mexico is hot due to nearshoring and has endless opportunities if they don’t hold themselves back from capitalizing on them. Also curious to see how fines will be imposed. If there is this much confusion amongst providers submitting the ccp, is there enough knowledge across the board to enforce it?”

Bottom Line?

 Personally, I’m excited about the advancement of documentation in Mexico. In a market that is so severely underinvested, the government’s push for fully digitized paperwork is going to eventually lead to more streamlined cross-border operations. If you digitize the paperwork, you can get so much more information automatically, and leverage that information for providing better visibility for beneficial cargo owners and cleaner data for everyone involved in the cross-border supply chain.

 Fines can still occur if shippers and carriers don’t have an active Carta Porte and if they don’t file the Carta Porte Complemento alongside the CFDI submission. It appears that most delays have been smoothed out now that we’re a week into the new year, but I would anticipate disruption coming again towards the end of Q1 as we approach the firm deadline of March 31, 2024. This is ultimately going to benefit everyone involved in the process, aside from maybe those who were attempting to avoid paying taxes in Mexico.


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## Issue #6: How I got my start with Mexico

**Published:** 2024-01-02  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-6-how-i-got-my-start-with-mexico

*I've been asked often enough how I, a gringo, got involved in cross-border Mexico freight. It's addicting and I love the complexity of it all. Read more for the backstory.*


The Beginning: $400 Paper Loads

 My journey in logistics began in the summer of 2007 as an intern at Coyote's original Lake Forest office. Those early days were a deep dive into the world of load tracking. My tasks ranged from incessantly calling drivers to provide them with vital load information (yes, even faxing them directions in that pre-smartphone era!) to ensuring they were on schedule with their pickups and deliveries. It was a crash course in the logistical ballet of freight management.

 As the summer progressed, I transitioned to a more challenging role in coverage. My primary focus was on truckloads of paper rolls, each weighing a hefty 45,000 lbs, and destined from Staten Island, NY to Worcester, MA. Despite my persistent efforts and offering carriers a flat rate of $400, the rejections were frequent, often ending with a swift click on the other end of the line.

 Post-internship, I pursued my cinematic dreams at a film school in Chicago, maintaining a part-time role in Coyote's IT department. After two years of film studies, in 2009, I packed my bags for Los Angeles, fueled by aspirations of making a name for myself in the film industry, particularly in music videos. However, reality soon set in. Confronted with the tough love of my father's ultimatum to either self-sustain in LA or return to Coyote, I chose a middle path. In 2010, I moved to San Diego with a plan: work in freight for a year, save up, and then give LA another shot.

 Fast forward to 2024, I'm still here in the freight industry. It's been a journey filled with unexpected turns and life lessons, but looking back, I don't harbor a single regret.

San Diego

 Living in San Diego was an experience I cherished, but I soon realized it wasn't the place for me to fully advance my career in freight. During my three-year tenure at the San Diego office, I delved into the complex world of battery freight logistics. This wasn't just about moving automotive car batteries; it encompassed the entire supply chain, dealing with new and used batteries, and managing the nuances of lead, plastic, and packaging.

 One of my regular tasks involved covering a lane from Phoenix, AZ to Yuma, AZ. I collaborated with a unique carrier, one that specialized exclusively in these types of loads, and together, we managed to secure a healthy profit margin. However, when an opportunity arose to handle similar loads for a large CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) customer, I hit a roadblock. This carrier, accustomed to the more relaxed nature of battery loads, balked at the CPG freight due to its challenging logistics: late-night pickups, prolonged loading times, and stringent delivery schedules.

 The transparency of Coyote’s TMS (Transportation Management System) added another layer of complexity to this situation. The system allowed everyone on the team to see each other’s monthly commissions, sparking a competitive environment. My colleagues could see my success with the Phoenix to Yuma battery loads but also noticed my absence in the CPG lane. This led to a misperception that I was cherry-picking the easier, more lucrative loads, while in reality, it was a matter of carrier preference.

 The pressure from my team was a catalyst for change. Determined to find a solution, I embarked on a mission to identify alternative carriers capable of handling the Phoenix to Yuma CPG loads. I expanded my search to include carriers within a 150-mile radius of Yuma, reaching into Calexico, CA. This exhaustive search led me to TBM Carriers. While they were initially hesitant to take on the Phoenix lane, our discussions opened up other opportunities. I began loading them on routes from Washington and Oregon back to Southern California, laying the foundation for what would become a significant and lasting business relationship.

Moving Back to Chicago and Launching Coyote Mexico

 In 2013, driven by ambitions to grow my career and step into a leadership role, I made the strategic move back to Coyote's headquarters in Chicago. There, I joined the Private Fleet group, a move that marked a new chapter in my logistics journey. My time with this team lasted just under a year, but it was significant. I continued working with TBM Carriers, not just for battery and west coast freight but also for new opportunities.

 Early 2014 presented a turning point. A salesperson circulated an email across the carrier department, inquiring about our capacity to handle shipments from Mexico — specifically, transporting toothpaste from Nuevo Laredo, TAM, to destinations in Georgia and Ohio. Sensing an opportunity, I reached out to TBM with this inquiry. Their prompt response with competitive rates led to us securing and successfully executing these loads. The commissions from these Mexico loads surpassed those from both the battery freight and private fleet bookings, igniting my interest in further exploring the Mexico freight market.

 This shift in focus caught the attention of Coyote's COO at the time. He approached me one day, questioning my newfound focus on Mexico freight over the private fleet. My explanation, centered around the higher profitability of Mexico freight, was met with an unexpected response: I was tasked with the challenge of expanding our Mexico freight business. Suddenly, I found myself collaborating with a Spanish-speaking colleague in a small corner of the office, both of us diving headfirst into the intricacies of Mexico's logistics landscape.

 Our initial task was to price an RFP for an industrial products manufacturer. This exercise was a hands-on lesson in pricing cross-border freight, where we discovered the strategy of splitting and individually pricing the different legs of the journey at the border. This approach paid off when we won business from the RFP, opening doors to more significant opportunities.

 The customer requested a meeting in Laredo at “our facility” and then introduced us to their customs broker, Carlos Zuñiga. They requested a meeting at our Laredo, TX facility to discuss the final steps of our arrangement. There was just one hitch in this plan — we didn’t actually have a facility in Laredo.

My First Laredo Trip: Discovering the Heart of Cross-Border Freight

 Ahead of my inaugural visit to Laredo, I reached out to the customer's customs broker, Carlos Zuñiga, to discuss our next steps. Carlos extended an invitation to tour his facility in Laredo during our meeting. His offer was generous and heartfelt, epitomizing the phrase “Mi casa es su casa.” That initial conversation was a glimpse into the welcoming spirit of Laredo, a city pivotal to cross-border logistics.

 The meeting with the customer at Zuñiga’s facility was a resounding success, paving the way for us to onboard this new account. Laredo left a lasting impression on me. Despite its modest size, the city buzzed with an energy unique to the freight industry. It was a place where logistics visibly pulsed through its veins; trucks adorned with familiar logos, sprawling terminals, and the likelihood of bumping into a trucking company owner at any local diner. Laredo embodied the essence of cross-border logistics, where every corner had a story to tell.

 Returning from Laredo, I was compelled to share my experience with the entire company. In an email that I still recall vividly, I described Laredo as the "Mecca of cross-border freight," a hub that drew in those who shared my passion for Mexico freight. This communication sparked a surge of interest within Coyote. We began actively promoting our new cross-border services to all our shippers, tapping into the burgeoning potential of this market.

 The enthusiasm was contagious. We rapidly expanded our operations team, bringing in Spanish-speaking colleagues eager to embrace this new venture. This growth was not just in numbers but in expertise and dedication. Eventually, this expansion led us to establish an office in Guadalajara, now the heart of our cross-border team. The journey from that first trip to Laredo to the establishment of our Guadalajara office was a testament to the opportunities and growth that cross-border freight offered.

Coyote's Acquisition by UPS: A New Horizon in Logistics

 In 2015, a pivotal moment unfolded while I was in Puebla, Mexico, visiting a major automotive supplier. An email from my dad announced to the entire company about imminent rumors of UPS acquiring Coyote. His message skillfully balanced the news, reassuring us that while the acquisition was on the horizon, it was a gateway to unprecedented growth and success. He emphasized the sheer scale and resource advantage of partnering with a global giant like UPS, urging us to embrace the excitement of this new chapter.

 The following two years, as I continued to develop Coyote's Mexico operations under the UPS umbrella, were transformative. I was introduced to the intricacies of global supply chains, gaining a holistic understanding of how packages journeyed across the world. This period allowed me to synergize Coyote’s specialized cross-border truckload business with UPS’s extensive global forwarding and parcel solutions. It was a time of learning, integration, and exploration.

 During this phase, I devoted myself to exploring UPS’s expansive network, seeking out untapped opportunities that could benefit Coyote. This relentless pursuit of new possibilities earned me the nickname 'The Forager' from Matt Connolly, a UPS executive. The name aptly captured my approach and soon became a part of my identity, sticking with me even after my departure from Coyote in early 2018.

Founding Forager: A Tech-Driven Odyssey in Logistics

 In March 2018, I turned a new page in my career by leaving Coyote with a vision to dive into the tech world. Inspired by the likes of Uber Freight and Convoy, I was drawn to the innovative culture of tech-forward companies but also felt a tug to step away from freight. However, fate had other plans.

 During a brainstorming session with my close friend, Jordan Salins, we toyed with the idea of a tech venture akin to 'Uber for Boating,' a service where boaters could order snacks, food, and drinks directly to their vessels. It was a promising concept, but practicality set in; in Chicago, such a business would only thrive a few months a year unless we relocated to a year-round boating haven like Miami.

 Simultaneously, discussions with Project44 and two Canadian brokers kept pulling me back to the familiar realm of Mexico freight. The brokers' rigid, off-the-shelf TMS systems highlighted a gap in the market for a more flexible, tailor-made solution for managing the nuances of cross-border freight. These talks often ended with vague assurances, signaling to me that genuine innovation in this space was unlikely to come from existing players.

 Enter Ted Alling, whose advice resonated deeply with me: true control over one's destiny comes from building one's own business. I pitched this idea to Jordan, coupling it with my initial designs for a bespoke TMS that would revolutionize cross-border freight management. Thus, the seeds of Forager were sown.

 We brought on board Jessie Essman as our third co-founder, creating a strong foundation with my expertise in freight and Mexico, Jordan's financial acumen, and Jessie's operational prowess. Our fundraising journey began auspiciously, securing $1.25M in a pre-seed round led by TFI International, followed by a cumulative raise of $15M across three rounds.

 At the heart of Forager was SCOUT, our secret acronym-laden platform that combined a shipper portal for instant quotes and bookings, an internal TMS for freight execution, and a carrier portal. We had created a digital cross-border freight brokerage from scratch.

 However, scaling Forager presented its own set of challenges. Our growth hit a plateau as we realized the need for a larger US network to offer cost-effective cross-border solutions. Our financial margins mirrored a heart rate monitor, fluctuating with market trends. This led us to explore M&A opportunities, culminating in a deal with Arrive Logistics that closed in January 2022.

 The journey of building Forager was filled with valuable lessons, many of which I shared in a recent Founder-to-Founder post.

Forager + Arrive: Blending Cultures and Visions

 The acquisition of Forager by Arrive marked a significant transition for our team of around thirty employees. We had cultivated a small, agile startup capable of swift action, and now we were integrating into a company with a workforce of over 1,800. This shift posed a daunting challenge for our close-knit group, accustomed to the familiarity and autonomy of a smaller entity.

 Mergers often bring a host of integration challenges. We faced questions about cultural alignment, team integration, job security, product consistency, and operational changes. These concerns loomed large as we contemplated how our roles and responsibilities would evolve within the larger framework of Arrive.

 Remarkably, Arrive’s leadership team went to great lengths to facilitate a smooth transition, earnestly incorporating elements of Forager’s culture into their own. This genuine effort to blend the best of both worlds played a crucial role in retaining most of the Forager team within Arrive.

 As a founder, experiencing your startup’s acquisition is bittersweet. The entrepreneurial drive to create and lead is often at odds with the structured environment of a larger corporation. I wasn’t in complete alignment with every integration decision, but this journey taught me the importance of building consensus and navigating the complexities of a larger organizational structure.

 Throughout the M&A process and integration, I focused on three key stakeholders:

The Employees: Contrary to the cold calculus of legalities, the true value of a business lies in its people. Every decision was weighed against how it would impact our team, ensuring their concerns and futures were given top priority.

The Carriers and Customers: The end of our Forager journey had its share of turbulence. A paramount concern was ensuring that our carriers were compensated and our customers’ freight continued to move seamlessly.

The Investors: Our investors were our champions, supporting us through thick and thin. Their commitment was instrumental in Forager’s survival and growth, even as challenges mounted.

 My tenure at Arrive was a period of substantial learning and minimal regrets. It was an opportunity to reflect on my journey, absorb new lessons, and prepare for future ventures.

My Next Play

 In early 2023, the leadership baton for Arrive’s Mexico operations was passed to Jess Billedo, a leader with an exceptional ability to execute and guide. Her competence gave me the confidence to transition my responsibilities and step away from Arrive by the end of September. After a very brief vacation in October, I started working on my next project.

 During my tenures at Forager and Arrive, I had crossed paths with investors intrigued by my journey and eager to collaborate on future endeavors. Rekindling these connections, I initiated discussions to raise a pre-seed round, aiming to build a business that would stand the test of time. My vision was clear: to amalgamate my learnings from Coyote, Forager, and Arrive into developing software that revolutionizes the entire supply chain industry. The quest for a technical co-founder led me to interview over twenty candidates, ultimately finding the perfect match amidst the challenging times at Convoy.

 My journey, especially since that eye-opening trip to Laredo in 2014, has consistently circled back to the complexities and potential of cross-border Mexico freight. I’ve become convinced that the freight industry is ripe for a technological evolution, deserving of solutions crafted by those deeply familiar with its unique challenges. Such expertise cannot be gleaned from brief stints or surface-level engagements; it requires profound operational experience fused with exceptional technical acumen.

 Looking ahead, I see a future where freight brokerages and forwarders are not just surviving but thriving, propelled by advanced technology, enriched data access, and increased automation. Imagine a world where logistics professionals focus more on nurturing relationships and solving critical problems, rather than being bogged down by routine tasks like appointment scheduling and paperwork handling.

 The concept of nearshoring, as I've previously discussed, is not just a trend but a burgeoning reality. With global disruptions like the Suez Canal incident, the signs are unmistakable: Mexico is poised for monumental growth as manufacturing shifts closer to consumption hubs. This expansion will necessitate sophisticated tools and systems for logistics providers, 3PLs, and trucking companies operating in Mexico – tools that we intend to provide.

 My ambition with this new venture isn’t to disrupt; it’s to foster a meaningful evolution in how cross-border freight operates. To make this industry not just more efficient but more intuitive and interconnected.

 Stay tuned for more updates in the next few weeks!


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## Christmas Edition

**Published:** 2023-12-22  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-5-christmas-edition

*A quick post on wrapping up 2023 and getting ready for 2024.*


‘Twas the Friday before Christmas and, for the first time in fifteen years, I have zero stress about any last-minute shipments nor last-minute gifts. The team wrapped up early and next week is all about heads down working, with team standups canceled.

 You thought this was going to be something rhyming but I’m awful at that. Instead, I’m going to do a bit of reflection on 2023 as it was a pivotal year in my life.

 I’m most thankful to my wife and son, who supported me as I quit my job and started yet another company, knowing all the ups and downs we experienced during Forager. I’ve told myself and my wife that I’ll focus on creating a good work-life balance, something I agreed on with my co-founder as we got started on this new project. No matter how busy you feel, you have to find a way to step away from work and spend time with your family and doing things that you love doing.

 I’m thankful to my new co-founder and brilliant team of engineers who took the leap into another startup after seeing a rocketship crash down to Earth. We’ll have more to share soon about who that team is and what our plans are.

 I’m thankful to everyone I had a chance to work with at Arrive while integrating Forager. I made a lot of friends and have an incredible amount of respect for the leadership team that’s building out that business.

 I’m thankful to my family, my parents, and my siblings, especially the one who gives me shit for some of my more cringe posts. You all set a high standard and that fuels part of my motivation.

 I’ll be back with some more stories after the New Year - happy holidays!


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## Issue #4: Supply Chain Startups

**Published:** 2023-12-18  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-4-supply-chain-startups

*I've had the opportunity to meet the founders of so many startups in the past few years and I try to help as many as possible succeed. Read on for how I got my start in tech and angel investing!*


My experience building technology

 I can recall three moments growing up that had a slight hand in shaping my desire to build technology. The first was during a time when we still had dial-up, when I learned how to write HTML to build a Chicago Bulls fan website that kept the roster updated. It was before the Bulls had their own website and so I used to keep track of trades and signings that were announced in the newspaper and then update the site. It never went anywhere, but I learned how to structure the most basic website.

 The second moment was when I attended a summer camp at Lake Forest College where I learned how to build video games. I don’t remember the coding language, nor do I remember how to do it, but I remember having an immense amount of fun creating something out of nothing. I thought I was going to go into a career building video games but, alas, I did not. (I also made an attempt at filmmaking, as detailed in my FreightCavier podcast.)

 The third moment was when I was a junior in high school, taking pre-calculus. We all had TI-83 Plus calculators and you could build apps or games on it. I spent the entire year building out this mega-app that had every single pre-calc formula you would need, from the pythagorean theorem to the quadratic equations. While it helped you do the work, it didn’t fully answer the questions for you. You still had to know what functions you needed to use but the calculator did most of the work. My teacher was so impressed with the app that she actually let me share it with the entire class and everyone used it for their final exams. There was only one problem – it broke about ten minutes into the exam and so I found myself running around the room working to debug the app and fix it for every single student. I still managed to finish the exam in time and aced it.

 All that said, those aren’t the reasons why I’m building software today. When I started Forager, my plan was to build a cross-border freight tech company. The day I had the idea, I started sketching out a TMS in Adobe Illustrator (I know, I should’ve used Figma), and I couldn’t stop sketching until I had started the company. I had this vision in my head for how a TMS should work and it wasn’t even remotely similar to the one I had just spent the last decade using. We ended up building a TMS that we were able to use to recruit people who were used to using older technology, given that it was the only TMS built for handling cross-border freight. We also built a shipper portal that enabled our customers to get quotes and book loads instantly, and a carrier portal where carriers could bid on loads and book them instantly as well.

 After spending over a year and a half at Arrive Logistics, integrating Forager into the business and then leading a core part of the cross-border Mexico group, I couldn’t stop thinking about my desire to build software again. There’s something about the joy that a user has on their face the first time they see software that was built for them that has me hooked. I needed to go do it again. And so I left at the end of September and got started on my next idea, partnering up with someone who had been at Convoy for most of that company’s journey, and who had built critical components of their business. Several newly displaced engineers wanted to follow and we were only budgeted to bring on three so we did just that. I’ll have more to share on our plans in the future

Angel Investing

 I only started angel investing in late 2020 when I met a founder who had reached out asking if I would join her cap table, as her first freight-related investor. I found myself talking her out of building a freight brokerage as a part of her business, pushing her to stay focused on the core product.

 When it comes to angel investing, I limit where I make these investments, or where I spend my time advising startups, to areas where I can actually have an impact. My goal when I spend time talking with startup founders is to help them avoid the mistakes that I made when building my first startup. That stretches from how you form the company and the type of attorney you use to picking your cofounders to hiring talent to raising money. Generally, I’m most impactful when a startup fits in a space that I understand (truckload, logistics, brokerage-supporting tools), where I can make introductions and stand in the shoes of a potential user to provide early feedback. I covered a lot of the advice I give founders in Issue #1: Founder-to-Founder Advice.

 I’m going to highlight a few startups that I’ve been chatting with, have invested in, am advising, or just find to be really impactful in the space.

CarrierSource: CarrierSource is a carrier review website made for trucking companies to build a fair reputation online, while providing brokers and shippers another layer in their carrier vetting process with peer reviews. Every active carrier has a free profile on CarrierSource where they can publicly showcase their company information, collect reviews from their customers, create a brand, and easily be found by brokers and shippers. It is free for brokers and shippers to search for carriers based on lane or location, learn more about their services, and read peer reviews from others who have worked with them. CarrierSource currently has 55,000+ reviews across 40,000+ unique carriers, and the site is visited by nearly 300,000 people each month.

Cru: Cru helps international trade businesses process customs documents and get paid faster, increasing liquidity, and avoiding headaches. With document processing, they make it simple for companies to send and receive goods worldwide without dealing with the hassle of complex customs paperwork. Through automated payments, they provide visibility on the process of getting paid, so businesses don't lose their money. They work to reduce complexity by handling different currencies, making global trade less costly and more efficient.

FleetWorks: FleetWorks is an AI that automates tedious freight processes. When a broker needs to track a load, reschedule an appointment, or find last-minute coverage, they can use FleetWorks to handle all the phone calls, emails, and text messages to get those jobs done. The phone AI can handle inbound and outbound calls while navigating phone trees (e.g., “press 1 for dispatch). FleetWorks integrates with TMSs so that brokers can stay in their native system while leveraging the new benefits of AI.

GoodShip: GoodShip is the all-in-one platform for analytics, carrier management, and transportation procurement. GoodShip plugs into any TMS, giving shippers a control tower to take swift corrective action to keep contract rates competitive and carrier performance optimized. No technical resources are required to get set up and onboarding takes about a week of work by the GoodShip team.

 GoodShip has been seeing a lot of success early, which includes a strong team of former Convoy employees, and they’ve landed surprisingly large logos who leverage their technology to make better procurement decisions.

Highway: Highway is changing how carrier compliance and carrier identity works. Highway works with brokers to help identify who's really hauling their freight to reduce fraud and supercharge their digital bookings. There are a couple legacy providers that have existed for a long time and maintained status quo for that entire duration, leading to an innovative new startup in Highway that has had a major impact on reducing fraud in the industry.

Solvento: Solvento, based in Mexico City, is helping shippers and brokers automate their audit and payment processes with the goal of achieving error-free and immediate payments. Additionally Solvento offers QuickPay and working capital loans to 3PLs, carriers and truckers. The average time a carrier waits to collect in Mexico is +60 days and over 95% of trucking companies in Mexico have less than five trucks with no access to financial products.

 Solvento has quickly taken the Mexico market by storm by helping bring payment infrastructure into the 21st century, enabling carriers to be better capitalized and supporting all parties by making sure capital flows effectively across the Mexico supply chain network.

TrueNorth: My first angel investment was done in October 2020 in a startup called TrueNorth that was building software to help truck drivers build and grow their businesses. I’ve watched Jin Stedge, the co-founder and CEO, manage through some incredibly challenging markets, with a couple pivots in the process, but she’s kept a level head the entire time and is seeing a lot of success with a leaner team and stronger software focus.

 Today, TrueNorth gives owner-operator carriers a single app to manage their loads and business in one place, allowing them to search for and book loads across the ecosystem, they can send invoices to their broker or factor, understand when they’ve been paid, and ultimately manage their entire business from a single app.

Zerio: Zerio has created an advanced tool that helps global shipping operations comply with international supply chain security frameworks. Their platform streamlines compliance protocols for the secure movement of goods across global borders and ensures that companies comply with complex regulations governing international shipments. The platform also ensures uniformity and consistency in security protocols across a vast network of suppliers and provides constant and up-to-date monitoring of the security status of shipments in real-time.

 With the rapid expansion of manufacturing in Mexico, Zerio is helping those manufacturers maintain critical security processes to maintain their CTPAT status

 .

Wrap-up

 I’ve come to really love angel investing and advising startups. While my main focus is now building my new startup, I believe in a few things:

 You can’t build everything yourself. Focusing on building vertically and enhancing your product vs trying to expand TAM is critical to success early. We plan to partner with some of the startups I listed and that was part of the reason why I invested.

 I received a lot of advice and coaching from advisors and investors while building Forager but I didn’t listen as often as I should have. When I give similar advice to founders I talk to, I see that same look in their eyes where they say “yeah sure, that makes sense” but then they don’t follow the advice. I beg and implore them to use the advice — sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. You can only push so hard before you have to let them touch the stove and burn themselves the first time around. They hear the advice even if they don’t follow it, so keep giving advice!

 Angel investors tend to be stronger than most others on your cap table. They’ve done the work, they’ve been there before, and you’re going to get more bang for your buck when you bring on angel investors. I crammed twenty angels into my pre-seed round and have been working hard to leverage those relationships as much as possible. (highly recommend listening to the 20VC episode with Sam Corcos!)

 Given how often I’ve been asked about how I got into cross-border freight, the next issue will be a deep dive on my story of how I became obsessed with Mexico supply chain. In the meantime, reach out on LinkedIn or X/Twitter – let’s keep this dialogue going about entrepreneurship, angel investing, and startup life!


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## Issue #3: Hecho en Mexico / Made in Mexico

**Published:** 2023-12-11  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-3-hecho-en-mexico-made-in-mexico

*After a busy trip to Laredo, TX, I decided to cover what moves through this amazing border city. With only 250k people, it's so much bigger than the population would tell you.*


The last week in Laredo reminded me of some of the reasons why I love cross-border freight so much. There is this unique culture that exists in Laredo TX, the perfect blend of American and Mexican cultures. You walk into a meeting and find out that the last meeting was with this guy’s cousin and the next meeting is with his compadre (similar to a god-parent). All these people compete, but they’re friends or family members at the same time. Somehow, there’s enough business to go around for hundreds of trucking companies, customs brokers, and warehouses to succeed in Laredo.

 We spent the week meeting with carriers, customs brokers, and warehouse owners who all participate in cross-border supply chain and logistics. Each of them has their own version of a niche within a niche and they all fit uniquely into this incredibly complex process. My co-founder/CTO and our founding team of engineers had the opportunity to learn about every step of this process as we work to build technology that will simplify and digitize this process.

Grown In Mexico

 We visited one of the largest Mexico-based refrigerated carriers, who owns a cold chain facility in Laredo, where we saw products from Mexico that range from tomatoes, celery, peppers, and lettuce to chocolate and peppermint-flavored candies that we all remember from our childhoods. Down the street, we passed a customs broker that clears a massive amount of avocados, locally known as the Queen of Avocados. One interesting tidbit we learned from the visit is that most produce grown in Mexico is grown in enormous vertically integrated greenhouses. The tomatoes look and smell like they came right out of the ground, but in fact, they came from intricately planned greenhouses.

 These products just make up a few of the commodities that are produced fresh in Mexico and exported to the United States. You can find the full list below:

CPG - Food, beverages, beer, tequila, mezcal

Fruit - avocados, limes, lemons, mangoes, papayas, guavas, bananas, and melons

Vegetables - tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, cucumbers, squashes, and hot peppers (incl. jalapeños, serranos, and ghost peppers)

Grains - Corn, wheat, rice

Legumes - Green beans, black beans, pinto beans, kidney beans

Additional agricultural products - Peanuts, sunflower seeds, coffee, cocoa, sugar, and agave

 In 2022 alone, Mexico’s agricultural exports set a new record of just over $50 billion USD.

Manufactured in Mexico

 On the other side of the supply chain spectrum, there’s a massive manufacturing footprint throughout Mexico and it’s only continuing to grow. The industrial sector in Monterrey keeps getting larger and larger, and Tesla isn’t even close to finishing construction on their new factory that will produce up to two million electric cars per year. Just wait until that plant is up and running. Just take a look at the Google Maps of any industrial area in Mexico and you’ll find tons of brands you recognize of American, Asian, and European companies that are investing in Mexico.

 Automotive parts, cars, and other transportation-related equipment

 Appliances, Electronics, and Computers

 Chemicals

 Primary Metals

 Machinery

 Manufactured Metal Products

 Electrical Equipment and components

 Plastic and Rubber Products

 For each of these categories, you can divide them up deeper and you can find 25+ brands per category that are producing those goods in Mexico. Every automotive OEM and most of their suppliers have a presence in Mexico. Most TV and appliance manufacturers do as well. It makes too much sense not to manufacture there.

What’s going on in Laredo? What about the other border cities?

 An estimated 17,000 truckloads a day cross through Laredo, which represents a third of all cross-border freight flow, with nearly every type of product moving through this major border city. The reason why Laredo has so much volume is related to the infrastructure that exists in Laredo and south from there. Monterrey is approximately 150 miles south, which makes up one of the largest shipping markets, alongside Mexico City, el Bajío, Guadalajara, and Puebla.

What I heard in Laredo about the Market

 The general sentiment right now is that, in spite of nearshoring, and historic growth happening in Mexico, the market still feels slow, which is consistent with how the U.S. market has been for quite a while. Carriers are working hard to maintain the consistent freight they have but are definitely looking for additional opportunities. Brokers and shippers are seeing excess capacity offered up daily out of most markets in northern Mexico, with some tightness still being felt in Guadalajara and Mexico City. On the temperature control side, with produce season in the rear-view mirror, carriers are actually looking for more northbound freight as they have more meat, pork, and chicken shipping south than capacity allows.

What’s coming next?

Eventual Volume Growth: I believe we’ll see volume start to pick up coming out of Mexico in the tail end of 2024. We’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg with respect to nearshoring and haven’t felt that boost yet the way we will in late 2024 and in 2025. Companies have set their plans to more manufacturing to Mexico but it takes time to execute on those plans.

New Capacity: New trucking companies will continue to sprout up in Laredo and other border cities as carriers look to ride the nearshoring wave. How and when they grow their fleets will depend on volume growth as interest rates have made it difficult to borrow capital to buy trucks and trailers ahead of the growth curve.

New Construction: We saw a lot of construction in Laredo where warehouses are being built up and down I-35, the highway that runs from Laredo up through San Antonio and Austin, ultimately up to Dallas, which is a heavily popular corridor for freight moving into and out of Mexico.

Upcoming Border City Visits: I’m looking forward to making similar trips to El Paso, Calexico, and the valley (Pharr and Brownsville) in the coming months as we build out our product.

Up Next Week: I’ve had an opportunity to meet a ton of startups recently, making investments in a handful over the past year, and plan to talk more about startup life and startups I’m excited about in next week’s newsletter.

 I’m considering doing an AMA on X/Twitter in the next couple weeks - respond to or comment on this newsletter, or drop me a DM if you’d find that interesting, along with potential questions  you’d love to see answered. Happy to cover anything from building a startup to being acquired to general logistics strategy to cross-border freight!


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## Issue #2: Nearshoring is Booming

**Published:** 2023-12-04  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/issue-2-nearshoring-is-booming

*With all this talk about crazy growth in Mexico, let's do a deep dive on what nearshoring means and why it's here to stay.*


Level-Setting on Definitions

 I post about nearshoring enough, I guess it made sense to spend some time on it in the second issue of the Silver Substack. Let’s start with some definitions:

Offshoring (pronounced: /ˈɒfˌʃɔː.rɪŋ/)noun

 The practice of relocating business operations, especially manufacturing processes, from one's home country to another country, primarily to reduce costs. This includes moving factories or production facilities to countries where labor, materials, and other operational expenses are cheaper.

Example: "Nike exemplifies offshoring by producing the majority of its products, intended for the U.S. market, in countries like Vietnam, China, and Indonesia. This strategy enables the company to benefit from lower labor costs in these regions. Additionally, sourcing raw materials locally shortens the initial stages of their supply chain, enhancing efficiency. This approach not only reduces production costs but also streamlines Nike's operations, contributing to its global success."

Nearshoring (pronounced: /ˈnɪərˌʃɔː.rɪŋ/)noun

 The practice of transferring a business operation to a nearby country, especially in preference to a more distant one. Nearshoring focuses on proximity to the original country, allowing for greater control, reduced travel times, and better cultural alignment compared to offshoring to faraway locations.

Example: "After producing the majority of their cars initially in the United States, Tesla has announced $15 billion worth of investment in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon to build their new Giga Factory and reduce costs for the cars they sell in the U.S.."

Why are “supply chain” and “nearshoring” such buzzy terms now?

 There’s several reasons that have caused supply chain strategy to become a burning topic in the media and in board rooms across the world:

1. The Global COVID Pandemic

 In early 2020, COVID-19 shut the world down and China took the worst of it. The delays were so pronounced, and the impact was felt for so long, from manufacturing to shipping, that it forced companies to rethink their supply chain footprints and bring their most critical manufacturing closer to home. For the United States, the logical move became Mexico.Companies quickly pivoted in 2020 and 2021 to start sourcing materials and suppliers that were located in Mexico as they realized it would be easier to get to Mexico, easier to communicate with people where they had a higher likelihood of bilingual and bicultural talent, and similar timezones that further made life easier.

2. US-China Trade War

 Trade tensions really started to balloon in 2018, where discussions for the USMCA were being formed, with rhetoric on social media and in the news media driving a deeper divide between the United States and China. There was very clear “America First” messaging around the USMCA, which was finalized on October 1, 2018, even if it ended up being beneficial to Mexico and Canada, it definitely wasn’t friendly to China.The USMCA had a positive impact on North American trade, as car parts needing to be sourced within North America grew from 62.5% to 75% of the total makeup of a car. It also reduced tariffs on most industrial materials produced within the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and it strengthened intellectual property protections, which further encouraged companies to keep or move their manufacturing to North America.

3. Suez Canal Blockage

 Who can forget Flexport’s Ryan Petersen jumping in to help fix the Suez Canal issue while we were all stuck at home staring at Twitter all day, back in March 2021? The images of Evergreen’s Ever Given stuck lasted a lot longer than the six days it was jamming up global supply chains.This blockage caused container prices to skyrocket (and some forwarders’ revenues to skyrocket, temporarily), and further scared every transportation executive around the world. It’s estimated that these delays caused anywhere from $5-10 billion in lost trade per day.

4. Brexit

 The United Kingdom’s decision to ditch the European Union in 2020 created some serious changes to how Europe operates. It caused companies to rethink how they bought materials from the UK and how they sold their goods to the UK. Countries around the world had to negotiate new deals with the UK.Any time a change in trade terms happens, it opens up the opportunity to rethink supplier bases and you can bet companies reconsidered doing business with the UK given their new status.

5. Semiconductor Chip Shortage

 Did anyone have any clue what a semiconductor chip was before we realized there was a massive shortage in 2020 and all of a sudden, car prices skyrocketed? You can’t make a single car without semiconductor chips. Smartphones, computers, TVs, gaming consoles, headphones, refrigerators, microwaves, and espresso machines (for all my carajillo lovers out there) all rely on semiconductor chips. Our whole world relies on them. Imagine a world without semiconductor chips? Definitely wouldn’t have OpenAI.A Tesla Model S, for example, requires over 2,000 chips to operate. If you’re missing a single one, Tesla can’t continue the production line. The chip shortage caused OEMs to come grinding to a halt. When that happened, given how much of their production occurs in Mexico, it sent cross-border transportation into a tailspin as carriers relied on this volume heavily to feed their networks. While OEMs were paused, those carriers no longer had their headhaul freight to get their trucks moving.

Supply Chain Makes the World Go Round

 When you think about it, every single thing that you use or touch every single day is only available to you because of supply chain operators and the technology that powers it. How things are made, shipped, and delivered gets more and more complex as the world evolves. There is so much technology that supports all the various aspects of a supply chain, from sourcing and managing suppliers and transportation to customs and trade compliance and all the other complexities that exist between.

 Take U.S. Steel, for example, from when they start creating new steal out of recycled materials and natural resources to that steel becoming part of the airplane that I’m sitting in as I write this newsletter from my laptop that had been manufactured by Foxconn and Apple in China before being shipped by a UPS cargo plane to the United States and eventually ending up on a truck, and then a distribution center, and then a brown UPS truck and finally my doorstep.

As the world changes, supply chain footprints change

 There are a TON of companies moving their manufacturing to Mexico. I recently sat on a panel with Jordan Dewart, President of Redwood Mexico, and Scott Shannon, VP of Cross-Border Solutions at CH Robinson, where we discussed a lot of these changes. One thing Jordan called out is that we’re just at the tip of the iceberg.

 A lot of nearshoring news right now has focused on Monterrey, N.L., which is only about 155mi south of Laredo, TX, the highest volume border crossing city, handling about 32% of all US-Mexico trade. And a lot of the stories we’re hearing are about factories that are just now receiving investments, meaning they haven’t been built yet and we should expect to see a surge of volume in the coming years.

 So many companies are investing just in the Monterrey area alone:

 Tesla - $15B

 Lingong Machinery Group (LGMG) - $5B

 Trina Solar - $1B

 Mattel - $1B

 Unilever - $400M

 Monterrey is a natural first option for manufacturing given its proximity to the border. Your cost for transportation is cheaper, it’s easier to get to Monterrey for business reasons, and there’s more bicultural talent in Monterrey than most other cities in Mexico, which makes it easier to do business there for Americans. I would expect to start seeing a lot more investment start to occur in the following markets:

 Ramos Arizpe / Saltillo, Coah.

 El Bajío (San Luis Potosi, Querétaro)

 Mexico City area

 Guadalajara

 Juarez and Chihuahua

 Tijuana and Mexicali

 Reynosa and Matamoros

So where is the opportunity for investment?

 I get a lot of calls on this topic and will address a few opportunities I see in the space:

1. Customs, Trade, and Security Compliance

 Customs and trade compliance is different in every country. The way you import something into the United States is different than how you import something into Mexico. Shipping a load from Mexico to the U.S. has a different process than the opposite direction. Mexico is the U.S.’s number one trading partner but Mexico is also doing a LOT more business with China and most of Asia.Companies in Mexico will continue to see new opportunites to grow and, with that growth, they’re going to be doing business with more trade partners. One wrong classification of a product can be costly, one bad actor in your supply chain can ruin your AEO/CTPAT status, incorrect incoterms can cause nightmares during a hot shipment. It’s not just about finding the right customs broker at that point, it’s about the technology infrastructure that all these customs brokerages and manufactuers rely on today.I recently had the opportunity to invest in a startup called Zerio that is working to solve the AEO/CTPAT compliance challenges for manufacturers in Mexico. It’s the first time I’ve seen someone attempt to digitize this incredibly complicated process and I think Zerio has the opportunity to help digitize the cross-border supply chain.

2. e-Commerce Will Be Back

 Yes, it’s been a bit slow for e-Commerce and 3PLs in that space. We know things are slow everywhere right now – it’s the calm before the storm. Freight markets are cyclical and we just need to power through the next 12-18 months, but I’ll leave it to Craig Fuller to handle the freight cycle predictions. More and more e-Commerce sellers are starting to turn to Mexico as a natural location to produce their products.It’s complicated to bundle products and ship them cross-border and there’s certain providers who excel at that. While UPS and FedEx have long offered those bundled solutions, there’s new companies hitting the market who have raised serious capital to offer newer and more modern solutions. I see companies like XB Fulfillment as one of the fast risers in the space who are helping e-Commerce companies exporting from Mexico to the United States.

3. Physical Warehousing at the Border

 When you manufacture products in Mexico, you ship it to the United States and eventually distribute it further into your network or to your customers. The more freight that flows from Mexico to the United States, all being produced at different speeds and sizes, the more we’re going to need to store some of that product at the border.There’s a lot of work done when it lands somewhere like Laredo or El Paso. Often times, companies re-package, label, mix-and-match pallets, and re-distribute those goods to different parts of the United States and Canada. Some companies will produce a single product at a particular factory in Mexico, and let’s say they have three separate factories in Mexico producing three distinct products. They’ll send truckloads from each plant to Laredo and then split them out and re-combine into three combination truckloads that then distribute to various parts of the United States.

4. Better Technology for Industrial Manufacturing

 Between the CHIPS Act that encourages manufacturing of semiconductor chips to move to the United States, which will result in their suppliers being in Mexico, and the rapid development of consumer technology devices, Mexico is going to need stronger high-tech support to be able to participate in this tailwind. There have been concerns about whether semiconductor chips can ever be produced in Mexico and it’ll take serious investment in both the technology and training.There’s already several massive technology companies producing in Mexico today:

Flex is a massive electronics manufacturer based in Guadalajara

Lenovo makes laptops in Monterrey

Foxconn produces laptops for Dell and HP, televisions for Sony and Vizio, and semiconductor components that end up in a lot of Apple’s iPhone, iPads, and Macs

5. Better Logistics Infrastructure

 The more production that happens in Mexico, the wider the delta becomes for that northbound-southbound imbalance. Northbound volume is increasing at a faster clip than southbound volume and, because of this imbalance, demand for northbound capacity will continue to increase. Carriers are going to get pickier about which freight they haul, freight brokerages who are investing in Mexico will need to use service and expertise as their differentiator as capacity becomes commoditized, and cross-border transportation will get even more stressful.I remember a transportation executive at one of the largest beer distributors who produces product in Mexico telling me that Mexico has and will continue to be a black hole to most transportation people. Too much of their freight is still domestic U.S. for them to spend enough time to understand how cross-border freight works, and they’re likelier to hand that off to one of those logistics experts I mentioned. A lot of what happens today in cross-border logistics still happens via email, WhatsApp, and even LinkedIn, with a LOT of phone calls in between, and a good amount of finger pointing. While there are some standards, the space begs for better standardization.

Wrap it up Matt, you’ve been talking about nearshoring nonstop!

 Let’s wrap this up with a few of my favorite recent blogs and podcasts:

 One of my favorite venture capitalists, and one of the strongest supply chain investors, is Ty Findley at Ironspring Ventures. Back in August, he published the second edition of The Blueprint – Nearshoring: A Shift in LatAm Transport & Logistics. I highly recommend giving it a read if you’re interested in reading even more about nearshoring.

 Since I talked a bit about Flexport in this post, and with global trade at the center of this discussion, while I may be a bit biased given he’s my brother, give Andrew Silver’s The Freight Pod episode a listen where he interviewed Bill Driegert, who originally taught me how to write macros in Excel back in 2008 while we were both at Coyote. (Apple Music | Spotify)

 Our friends to the North get so upset when we don’t talk about Canada while talking about North American trade, so this one’s for you, Noah Sidenberg - congratulations on the work you’re doing to help expand Arrive Logistics into Canada! (FreightWaves article)

 Reach out on LinkedIn or X/Twitter – let’s keep this dialogue going about cross-border freight and nearshoring! And if you’re as obsessed with cross-border freight as I am but haven’t joined the Cross-Border Connections 🇺🇸 ↔️ 🇲🇽 LinkedIn group yet, please do!


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## Issue #1: Founder-to-Founder Advice

**Published:** 2023-11-27  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/founder-to-founder-advice

*Now that I've had time to really decompress and start working on my next venture, I decided to organize my thoughts into this newsletter in hopes of helping founders avoid some of the mistakes I made.*


In recent months, my posts about entrepreneurship have led to a LinkedIn inbox packed with messages from aspiring founders, VCs, and an array of offers to elevate *Stealth Startup* to the next level with respect to (outsourced) engineering talent, marketing and PR, and executive coaches. This newsletter is centered around sharing insights for the benefit of new entrepreneurs.

 My experience with Forager, extending through its acquisition by Arrive Logistics and beyond, was a profound learning journey. Despite our successes, we encountered many mistakes, each offering valuable lessons. I’ve previously outlined these lessons on LinkedIn, and now I'd like to delve deeper.

1. Hyper-Focus: Zeroing In

 Focus is key. Early on, it's easy to get pulled in different directions. Stick to one thing and nail it. My dad dropped a truth bomb after my LinkedIn post – he said, “Don’t waste time going to conferences.” He’s onto something. Think ROI. Every minute and dollar spent at an event is time away from building your dream. Measure it against what you gain. If you can look your co-founder or investor in the face and tell them that you’ll bring in business from the conference, then do it. But think about what you’re sacrificing.

2. Raising Capital

 Let's get real about money. Raising capital? It's a big deal, but it’s just the start. You’ve got to have a game plan for every dollar – think of it like your startup’s battle plan. When pitching, here’s the thing: keep it short and sweet. You’ve got maybe a dozen slides to make your mark. Any more than that, and you risk losing their attention.

 Now, once you’ve got that investment, it’s all about communication. Keep your backers in the loop. Got great news? Share it. Hit a rough patch? Be upfront about it. The key here is balance – don't overpromise, but don't sell yourself short either. Investors aren’t just your funders; they’re your allies. Keeping them updated is part of the journey, not just a checkbox.

3. The Team: More Like a Championship Team Than a Family

 You know how everyone starts off calling their team their family? Well, while a tight knit culture is key, think of your squad more like a sports team. Each member plays a specific role, bringing unique skills to the table. It's about finding the right fit for each position. Building the culture is like coaching – you set the strategies, the goals, and foster the environment where everyone can excel. In the beginning, take the lead on sales. How you form and lead this team sets the tone for the entire game ahead.

 I aim to personally bring in those first 100 customers. If I can keep going past that to 250, I will. I’d love to avoid hiring sales people for as long as humanly possible. It’s likely we’ll end up hiring in marketing and success before sales.

4. Process: Crafting Your Winning Game Plan

 Processes in a startup? They’re like the unsung heroes. Building a solid process early is like training for the big leagues. Think of it as creating a rhythm everyone moves to. Regularly setting and reviewing OKRs is like your regular team huddle – keeps everyone aligned and chasing the same goals.

 Now, let's talk about the elephant in the room: performance management. It gets a bad rap, often seen as corporate speak for layoffs or cutbacks. But here’s the real deal – it's about making your team stronger. It's a two-way street: either you're coaching someone up, helping them grow and excel, or you’re making the tough call to coach them out. This isn’t about being harsh; it's about being fair and keeping the team agile and effective. And remember, performance management starts the day someone joins your team, not when problems arise. It's about setting expectations, giving feedback, and fostering growth from day one.

5. Tech & Product: Crafting Solutions That Captivate

 In the world of tech and product development, it's all about creating software that people love. It's not just about fixing problems; it's about making an experience that resonates. This is where your creativity meets user needs. Iterate, refine, and surprise your users with how well you understand them.

 This cycle of building, testing, and iterating is key. Listen to feedback, anticipate needs, and always be ready to pivot or evolve. Your product roadmap? That’s your guiding star. It keeps you on track, aligns your team, and helps you navigate through the tech jungle. It's more than just a checklist; it's a dynamic blueprint for your product's journey.

 And here’s a thing about tech: it’s not just about what it does, but how it makes users feel. Aim for that sweet spot where functionality meets delight. That’s when you know you’ve got something special.

6. Passion: Seeing Through the Hype

 Passion is your startup's heartbeat. It's what makes the difference between a project and a mission. I've met a lot of founders recently, and let me tell you, it's easy to spot who’s in it for the buzz and who’s driven by a real fire. Thirty seconds into a call, and I can usually tell. If someone's just riding the trend wave, not deeply invested in their idea, it shows. And trust me, investors and customers? They see it too.

 So here’s my take: dive into something you're truly passionate about. Something that keeps you up at night, that you can't stop thinking about. It’s about being obsessed with a problem that you feel only you can solve. This isn't just about making a smart business move; it's about bringing a vision to life that you genuinely believe in. That's when you move from being just another founder to being an innovator who makes a real impact.

Wrapping It Up: The Entrepreneurial Essence

 So, that's the rundown. We've talked about focus, money, team dynamics, the importance of process, the magic of tech, and the undeniable power of passion. It’s a mix of strategy, hard truths, and real talk – the essentials of the startup world.

 As we wrap this up, remember, it’s not just about what you do; it’s how and why you do it. The path of an entrepreneur is as much about the journey as it is about the destination. It's about building something that matters, with a team that’s driven, using processes that work, and technology that changes the game.

 I'm stepping away from the soapbox now, but the conversation doesn’t end here. Excited to dive into supply chain, logistics, and all the nitty-gritty in our upcoming chats. Reach out on LinkedIn or X/Twitter – let’s keep this dialogue going. Here’s to turning these insights into action and making each week count!


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## Introducing the Silver Substack.

**Published:** 2023-11-25  
**URL:** https://mattsilver.ai/blog/introducing-the-silver-substack

*Ramblings about the intersection of freight and tech.*


Subscribe now

More words in a slightly more organized fashion

 I know I’ve been hitting Twitter/X and LinkedIn pretty hard, lately. There’s so much to talk about in the freight industry, especially when it comes to cross-border freight. It’s all I’ve thought about for the better part of the past decade. Thanks to the rapidly expanding trade relationship between the United States and Mexico, we’re going to see a lot of opportunity for growth supporting this trade lane and more people are working to become experts in a relatively new market.

1. Another newsletter? Why?

 I get a lot of questions about topics that range from starting a company to the complexities of cross-border Mexico freight and the nearshoring trend that exacerbates it. I figured I would get my thoughts organized a bit more and share some longer form thoughts on here.

 If there’s a specific topic you’re interested in reading about, shoot me a message and let me know!

2. Who’s this for?

 Look, this thing will evolve — it’s an iterative process, something I learned about while building Forager. If you love freight, B2B software, entrepreneurship, or cross-border Mexico freight, you found that perfect intersection right here.

3. How often?

 My goal is to publish content at least weekly. If there’s a need to share something additional, I’ll do that.

4. Subscribe at your own risk!

 It’s realistically pretty low risk to sign up so just do it. What’re you waiting for? Put your email in that box and click that button. Just do it.

5. The industry is changing.

 With the recent news of Convoy’s demise, we’re in for a transformation in the industry. Convoy trained a lot of incredibly smart and talent people and they all gained first hand experience solving complicated supply chain problems. Some of those people will go on to start their own companies and solve a component of those supply chain challenges. I’m excited to see what happens in the industry over the next decade. Things are just getting fun, finally.